ROSE CREEK —The Southland softball team is starting to find its footing.

After dropping their first six games of the season, the Rebels have now won two of three after they beat Caledonia-Spring Grove 7-1 in Rose Creek Thursday.

Southland (2-7 overall) trailed 1-0 going into the bottom of the first, but they seized control when Lexi Shaw and Lexi Smith each knocked in a run in the first to put Southland up 3-1. The Rebels added four runs in the bottom of the sixth inning when Shaw singled in two more runs and Morgan Brown had a sacrifice fly.

“We’re finally coming together,” Shaw said. “We have six seniors and getting us all together for our final year has been kind of a struggle at first, but I think we’re getting the feel of it now. It felt good to not have a bad inning today, because that’s kind of been a thing for us where we’ve had one bad inning that holds us back.”

Southland senior Taylor Bhend allowed back-to-back doubles with one out in the first, but she limited CSG (3-8 overall) to just four hits the rest of the way as she walked one and struck out four.

“I was pretty much just making sure I hit my spots,” Bhend said. “It’s awesome for us to get a couple of wins.”

Southland committed zero errors in Thursday’s win after the team had struggled with miscues earlier in the season. The Rebels allowed at least 10 runs in its first six games, but they’ve allowed a total of just 12 runs in their last three games.

Southland head coach Greg Schulte said the team is learning to focus on the task at hand.

“I told them to take it one pitch at a time and one play at a time and they did very well with that. Early on in the season we made a lot of errors, but we’ve been taking it one pitch at a time and the girls have been thriving on that,” Schulte said. “When the defense plays well, it helps Taylor throw strikes because she knows they’ll field it. I think her confidence is getting better and better.”

CSG 1 0 0  0 0 0  0  —  1  6   3

Southland 3 0 0  0 0 4  X  —  7  6  0

Southland pitching: Taylor Bhend (W) 7 IP, 6 H, 1 BB, 1 ER, 4 K

Southland hitting: Taylor Bhend, 2-for-3, double, R, BB; Lilly Riddles, 1-for-2, 2 R, HBP, BB; Bria Johnson, 0-for-4, R, SB; Chelsey Kasel, 0-for-2, 2 R, SB, 2 BBs; Lexi Shaw, 2-for-3, double, 3 RBIs; Morgan Brown, 3 BBs, RBI; Lexi Smith, 1-for-4, RBI; Larissa Goslee, 0-for-4; Emily Bhend, 0-for-2, R, BB