The Packers set the tone early as they closed out their regular season home schedule with a 6-4 win over Rochester Mayo in a softball game at Todd Park Tuesday.

Austin committed three errors in the game, but it never made more than one miscue in any frame, which kept the Spartans from getting a big inning.

“Yesterday the same thing happened in the last inning (against Mankato East) and it caught up to us,” said Austin catcher Sydney Murphy, who went 3-for-3. “Today we just came out and wanted it. If the errors kept happening, we’d end up losing.”

Austin (4-7 overall, 2-6 Big Nine) jumped out to a 6-1 lead early on after Abbey Ball knocked in two runs with a single in the first, and Shayley Vesel, Abby Bickler and Sydney Murphy all knocked in runs with singles in a four-run second inning for the Packers.

Austin got a boost from a senior outfielder making her first varsity start of the season in the top of the second inning. Mayo had the bases loaded with one out when Cassidy Bawek, who had been playing center field on JV recently, made a running grab on a line drive off the bat of Mayo’s Katelyn Harrington. Austin pitcher Abbey Ball struck out the next hitter to preserve a 2-1 lead.

“That was a big catch,” Austin head coach Cindy Owen said.

Bawek, who went 1-for-2 with two stolen bases, initially had a little trouble tracking the ball, but she was able to pull it in.

“I didn’t really see it and I was kind of blocked at first,” she said. “But I got it.”

Mayo (3-7 overall, 2-5 Big Nine) had runners on first and third in the top of the seventh when Austin shortstop Shayley Vesel scooped up a grounder off the bat of Anna Brakke and threw her out by a couple of steps to end the game.

Owen, who said her team has had just three outside practices this season, was pleased with how her team bounced back from Monday’s losses to the Cougars.

“I was happy with the girls,” Owen said. “We lost two hard fought battles last night with Mankato East and I was pleased with the way they responded. They could’ve come out flat and they came out strong.”

Austin will play eight games over the next week and a half before it will play in the Big Nine tournament to close the regular season next Friday.

Mayo 0 1 0 0 2 0 1 — 4 7 1

Austin 2 4 0 0 0 0 X — 6 11 3

Austin pitching: Abbey Ball (W), 7 IP, 7 H, 2 BB, 4 R, 3 ER, 4 K, 3 HBP

Austin hitting: Shayley Vesel, 2-for-4, RBI, 2 SB, 2 R; Abby Bickler, 1-for-4, RBI, R, SB; Sydney Murphy, 3-for-3, RBI, R, SB; Ball, 1-for-3, 2 RBIs; Lisa Stundahl, 0-for-3; Jessie Smith, 1-for-3; Kallie Hart, 1-for-3, SB; Cassidy Bawek, 1-for-2, R, SB, HBP; Laura Siegfried, 1-for-2, R