The rain came at a bad time for the Austin softball team as it lost to Mankato East 3-2 in Todd Park Tuesday.

Right after the Packers (8-5 overall, 5-4 Big Nine) had grabbed some momentum with a pair of runs in the bottom of the fifth inning, a thunderstorm arrived and the game was called. Austin scored its runs when Kyra Walters and Avery Thompson each had a two-out RBI single.

“You don’t want to end this way, but mother nature is what it is, so that’s the way it goes sometimes,” Austin head coach Al Eckmann said. “We battled them back and forth. We had runners thrown out and they had runners thrown out. It was too good softball teams playing each other. Unfortunately we didn’t score enough runs.”

The Cougars (7-1 overall) scored all three of their runs in the top of the fourth inning when Maddie Glogowski and had an RBI single. East scored its third run on a two-out Austin fielding error.

The Packers had some opportunities slip away as they stranded runners on second and third in the first, they left runners on first and third in the second and they left the bases loaded in the fourth.

“We’ve really got to work on [getting that big hit],” Eckmann said. “We talked about it, but talking isn’t good enough. We’ve got to get it done and we’ve got to score some runs. We’re getting there.”

East 0 0 0  3 0  —  3  10  2

Austin 0 0 0  0 2  —  2   5   1

Austin pitching: Jaeda Bekaert (L) 5 IP, 10 H, 3 R, 2 ER, 3 K

Austin hitting: Halie Retterath, 1-for-3; Adison Medgaarden, 0-for-2, BB; Jordyn McCormack, 0-for-3; Hannah McMasters, 0-for-3; Kyra Walters, 1-for-3, RBI, R; Avery Thompson, 2-for-2, RBI, HBP; Taylor Derry, 1-for-2; Hannah Rasmussen, 0-for-2; Hannah Biwer, 2 BBs; Emilee Lay, R