The No. 4 seeded Blooming Prairie softball team was playing with a make-shift lineup that included four middle schoolers against two teams it had lost to earlier this season, but the Awesome Blossoms were able to get their bats going and keep their season alive as they took second place in the Section 1A West tournament in Todd Park Friday.

BP knocked off Janesville-Waldorf-Pemberton 9-5 and it beat Faribault Bethlehem Academy 15-7 to move on to the Section 1A tournament. The Blossoms racked up a total of 29 hits in 14 innings of softball.

“They really came together as a team these least couple of days and they didn’t want their season to end,” BP head coach Ali Mach said. “Regardless of everything that’s happened, these kids want to win and they want to play hard. We have all young kids playing and they’re really invested.”

BP (10-13 overall) had lost to JWP 7-3 May 19 and it had lost to FBA 4-2 on Tuesday. On Friday BP turned the tables as it jumped out to a big lead in both games. BP scored four runs in the bottom of the first against JWP to go up 4-1 and it scored nine runs in the top of the second against FBA to go up 9-1.

“We got together as a team. That’s what we had to do,” said BP junior Bria Baldwin, who was four-for-eight with a triple on the day.

BP also got a lift from junior Elly Strunk, who pitched both wins and went five-for-eight with six RBIs at the plate.

The Blossoms youngsters played a big role in the both wins and BP eighth grade catcher Maya Lembke was a force on defense and with her bat, where she went four-for-eight with a double and two RBIs.

“It’s more intense in the playoffs than the regular season and I was nervous at first,” Lembke said. “I got the hang of it, because the girls have helped me out a lot.”

Baldwin, who started playing varsity softball as an eighth grader, has been one of the BP players who has supported the younger Blossoms this spring.

“They’ve done their jobs and they’ve earned their spots for sure,” Baldwin said.

BP will open Section 1A tournament play in Todd Park 5 p.m. Tuesday.

Mach was pleased with how her team responded to adversity on Friday.

“We’ve had kind of an up and down year,” she said. “We wanted two wins and we made that happen. We stuck together, we had fun and they played hard. It was a great team effort.”

JWP 1 0 1 3 0 0 0 — 5 9 2

BP 4 0 4 0 0 1 0 — 9 13 1

BP pitching: Elly Strunk (W) 7 IP, 9 H, 2 BB, 5 R, 6 K, 1 HBP

BP hitting: Linnea Sunde, 2-for-3, R 3 SB; Emma Christianson, 1-for-3, RBI, R, BB; Bria Baldwin, 3-for-4, double, triple, 3 R, SB; Strunk, 3-for-4, double, 3 RBIs; Maya Lembke, 1-for-3, BB; Jerrin Jax, 2-for-3, RBI, R; Allison Krohnberg, 0-for-3, BB; Lila Carlson, 1-for-3; Marti Snider, R

BP 0 9 0 4 1 1 0 — 15 16 4

FBA 1 5 0 1 0 0 X — 7 9 1

BP pitching: Strunk (W) 7 IP, 9 H, 1 BB, 7 R, 4 K

BP hitting: Sunde, 2-for-5, RBI, R; Christianson, 1-for-5, RBI, R; Strunk, 2-for-4, double, 3 RBIs, BB; Baldwin, 1-for-4, 2 R, BB; Hein, 3-for-4, RBI, 4 R; Lembke, 3-for-5, double, 2 RBIs, R; Jax, 1-for-4, RBI, 2 R, BB; Krohnberg, 1-for-2, triple, RBI, R, BB; Carlson, 2-for-4, RBI, R; Snider, 2 R