Staff photo by Steve Muscatello Buffalo Lake-Hector-Stewart’s Katherine Hacker (15) slides into second as Minnesota Valley Lutheran shortstop Haley Ditch waits for the ball Tuesday at MVL.

NEW ULM — Samantha Dalueg’s single to right field scored Lauren Paulsen from second base in the bottom of the seventh inning for the game-winning run as Minnesota Valley Lutheran nipped Buffalo Lake-Hector-Stewart 6-5 on Tuesday in a Tomahawk Conference softball contest.

“We came back and we did have to do to win,” MVL head coach Barb Leopold said.

Paulsen hit a bloop single to center field. She moved to second base on a BLHS wild pitch.

MVL began its comeback in the bottom of the sixth inning, scoring three runs for a 5-2 lead. Lexi Fischer walked, stole second base and went to third on a wild pitch. She scored on a BLHS miscue for MVL’s first run. Samantha Dalueg walked and she scored on Cheyenne Blackwell’s double to tie it at 2-2. Blackwell scored on a Grace Rich double to right field, making it 3-2 MVL.

Payton Richsmeier reached on a BLHS error, stole second base and scored on another BLHS error, making it 4-2. Beth Albrecht was the courtesy runner and she scored on a BLHS error for the 5-2 lead after six innings.

BLHS responded with a rally of its own in the top of the seventh inning. Allison Dornseif singled to center, stole second and she scored on a double by Steffany Christiansen, making it 5-3 MVL. Christiansen scored on an MVL error for a 5-4 score. Tia Weispfennig’s single scored Jadah Borth to tie the game at 5-5.

The Mustangs drew first blood in the top of the first inning. Weispfenning walked, stole second and she scored on Alexandra Maiers’s triple to the right field fence for a 1-0 BLHS lead. Katherine Hacker belted a single to center field which scored Maiers. The score stood at 2-0 with neither team scoring until the sixth inning.

Stephanie Dalueg earned the win, pitching a complete game while giving up five runs on eight hits with seven strikeouts and two walks.

Borth took the loss, going 6 1/3 innings, giving up six runs, six hits, walking seven batters and striking out 11.

Blackwell led MVL with two hits and an RBI.

Maiers had two hits (one of them a triple) and an RBI for BLHS.

MVL will travel to Sleepy Eye St. Mary’s on Thursday. BLHS will travel to Springfield on Thursday.