Blooming Prairie and Southland both moved through the first round of the Section 1A West Sub-Section girls' softball tournament with run-rule shortened wins Thursday night at Todd Park in Austin.

Blooming Prairie soundly defeated LeRoy-Ostrander/Grand Meadow by the score of 11-0 in five innings. Blossoms pitcher Abbey Bergstrom (9-3) pitched a one-hit shutout, striking out nine and walking two.

Bergstrom also batted 2-3 with a two-run triple to give Blooming Prairie an 11-0 lead in the bottom of the fourth inning.

"Abbey's done a wonderful job on the mound and at the plate for us his year," said Blossom coach Chad Gimbel. "Our offense and defense both played quite well tonight."

Blooming Prairie (13-4) tallied its first run on a wild pitch in the first as Amanda Herdina, who singled, moved around to score the breakthrough run. The Blossoms added seven runs in the third on a combination of hits, walks, and LOGM errors.

BPHS escaped their own mistakes in the third on a two-out baserunning blunder, but the Blossom bats did not let the speed bump stop their momentum by scoring seven straight runs. Kristi Schwake reached on an error, moved to second when Rachel Long was hit by a pitch, but hesitated off second when Hilary Jones lifted a two-out fly ball to deep left field.

"I could tell (Schwake) was nervous before the game," Coach Gimbel said. "She felt bad about it."

Schwake did not have any reason to feel bad, however, as Blooming Prairie broke it open with Maggie Romeo's RBI-single and Amanda Herdina's two-run single. Schwake got up again that inning and drove in Herdina with a single.

Blooming Prairie's 8-0 lead was more than enough for Bergstrom, who got some help from her defense to escape LOGM's best scoring threat in the top of the fifth. Jen Ronne and Emily Huey reached on errors, and Bergstrom walked pinch-hitter Sarah Holm to load the bases for the Bulldogs with one out. LOGM leadoff hitter Maggie Payne laced a grounder at second baseman Laura Wurst, who tagged Holm and threw to first for the game-ending double play.

Brittany Bunne had LOGM's only hit -- a single to lead off the third inning. She was later forced out at third base. Huey reached base in both her plate appearances.

The Bulldogs (0-16) moved into the losers' bracket, where they will still have a shot to advance to Sections with four straight victories. LOGM plays Medford Saturday morning at 10 a.m. at Todd Park, while Blooming Prairie meets Southland (10-6) in the semifinals simultaneously.

Rebels rout Medford

Southland stomped Medford 10-0 in six innings, sending the Tigers into the losers' bracket for Saturday. The Lady Rebels, seeded third behind Blooming Prairie and Lyle/Pacelli, advanced into the semifinals with a 10-hit offensive attack and a one-hitter from pitcher Amy Walerak.

Nikki Kirkpatrick drove in Southland's 10th run with a bases-loaded line drive off the leg of Medford pitcher Mandi Morgan. Allison Chapek, who walked to lead off the sixth, stole second, took third on a wild pitch, and scored on Kirkpatrick's single.

Amanda Landherr, who finished the game 3-4 with a double and a run, drove in Shawna Bergene with a single in the fifth. Bergene was pinch-running for Carrie Shawback who had earlier singled. Shawback finished 3-3.

Landherr and Shawback accounted for six of Southland's 10 hits, only one of which came during the Rebels' five-run first inning. A combination of errors, passed balls and wild pitches allowed Southland (10-6) to take the early lead and ease into the second round.

"These young kids, you've got to make sure they get the nerves out," said Southland coach Karleen Retterath.

Miranda Schneider, the lone Southland senior, went 1-2 with two walks. Walerak struck out five and walked four amidst her one-hitter.

"She misses low, so she's not going to hurt us that way," Retterath said.

Randolph to face L/P

Randolph scored three times with no outs in the bottom of the eighth inning to overcome winless Goodhue's challenge in a 14-13 first-round match Thursday. The Rockets (11-8) received three walks and two errors from Goodhue in the final frame, and Hillary Foster took the bases-loaded walk for the game-winning RBI.

Goodhue (0-18) averted the regulation loss with a solo run in the top of the seventh, and the Wildcats took the lead with two runs in the eighth. Briana Gadient, who suffered the loss pitching 1 1/3 innings of relief, drove in a run and scored for Goodhue in the eighth.

Goodhue gets a bye in the losers' bracket, and awaits the loser of the Blooming Prairie/Southland match. Randolph, the fourth-seed, advances to face Lyle/Pacelli (16-2) in the Sub-Section semifinals.

Linescores:

LOGM00000--014

BPHS10730--11102

WP--Abbey Bergstrom. LP--Aubrey Jacobsen. 3B--Bergstrom (BP).

Medford000000--013

Southland503011--10101

WP--Amy Walerak. LP--Mandi Morgan. 2B--Landherr (S).

Goodhue05221012--13

Randolph51104003--14

WP--Jenny Harris. LP--Briana Gadient.