Shaking off an early 2-0 deficit at the hands of their crosstown rivals and the No. 12-seeded Sleepy Eye St. Mary’s Knights, the Indians took the lead in the third and never looked back as they earned an 8-3 win in the first round of the Section 2A Softball Tournament.

The Indians got two hits apiece from Callie Evers, Taylor Berkner, Jace Schauman and Megan Sellner to lead the 12-hit attack, with each player also adding two RBIs. Berkner also pitched and got the complete-game win, allowing five hits and six walks for three runs, two earned, while striking out three.

Sleepy Eye’s three seniors, Paige Haala, Nora Coulson and Brissa Hernandez, also got in the on the team’s offensive festivities with a hit apiece, with Hernandez and Coulson each driving in a run.

Hernandez’s hit was a double deep to left that brought in the first of four Sleepy Eye runs in the sixth. After going 0 for 3 before that double, the seventh inning was the perfect time for Hernandez to get a hold of a pitch and add to what was a two-run lead for her team at that time.

Staff photo by Travis Rosenau Sleepy Eye first baseman Kenley Jensen tags out Sleepy Eye St. Marys’ Josie Helget diving back to first in the first inning of Wednesday’s Section 2A Softball Tournament game in Sleepy Eye.

“I think just not hitting the whole game kind of got to me,” Hernandez said. “I knew I had to come up to the plate and be that second hitter, get a hit and get the team going. It felt really good coming off the bat, pretty close to a home run.”

Hernandez drove in Sellner, who led off the sixth with a single before being sac-bunted to second by Haala, to give Sleepy Eye a 5-2 lead. After that, Evers collected an RBI single, Jaelynn Schauman took a bases-loaded walk to score a run and Jace Schauman scored on an error for an 8-2 lead.

St. Mary’s pitcher Natalie Zarn ended up pitching six innings in the loss, allowing 12 hits and three walks for seven earned runs while striking out one.

The Knights got to Berkner early in the first with an RBI single by Reese Hoffmann that scored Taylor Mathiowetz, who singled with one out.

Sleepy Eye got two hits in the bottom of the first, but Zarn forced a pop out and flyout to end the inning unscathed.

The Knights made it 2-0 in the second after River Helget had an RBI single to center to score Olivia Schieffert, who led off the inning by reaching on an error. Sleepy Eye got a run back in the bottom of the inning when Sellner singled in Jaelynn Schauman, who reached on a one-out walk.

The Indians took the lead in the third thanks to a pair of RBI doubles from Berkner and Jace Schauman.

In the fifth, Coulson shook off an 0-for-2 start to her day with an RBI single into right.

“I think after hitting a few times through, that helps because it’s the same pitcher and you kind of know what to do,” Coulson said. “It was a little slower than some of the other pitchers we see, so getting timing down is the biggest thing, I think.”

Then came the sixth inning when Sleepy Eye broke things open for four runs, kick-started on Hernandez’s double.

The Knights got a run back in the seventh. After Taylor Mathiowetz walked to lead off, she took second on a wild pitch, third on a groundout and scored on an error at shortstop that allowed Hoffmann to reach first safely. Hoffmann got an RBI despite the error due to the error coming on an attempted throw to first with one out.

Schieffert took a walk with two outs to keep some hope alive for the Knights, but a grounder to Hernandez at third was quickly fired to first for the final out to end the Knights’ season with a 5-15 record.

The Indians, now 15-5, prepare for a road game against No. 4 Cleveland. The game is scheduled for 5 p.m. Thursday.

While the Indians are now in a double-elimination situation and a loss to Cleveland wouldn’t end their season, they’d still like to pull off a win Thursday as extra insurance. Doing what got them to this point will be key.

“Communication, doing the small things that we practiced at the beginning of the season, just working as a team,” Coulson said.

And getting the offense rolling earlier wouldn’t hurt either.

“I feel like our bats need to wake up a bit sooner,” Hernandez said. “We just need to get locked in at the beginning of the game and stay like that.”