The Austin U18 softball team had strong pitching performance in a 7-2 win, but it dropped the nightcap 9-4 against Stewartville in Todd Park Tuesday.

Austin’s Brooke Pazurek struck out ten and she allowed just three hits in the opening win. She also went 2-for-3 with an RBI in the win.

“Brooke did awesome in the first game,” Austin head coach Lisa Jacobs said. “She struggled a little bit last week so it was good to see her come back and overcome that.”

Austin (10-10 overall, 7-3 Southern Minny) broke open the first game when Brandi Meyers doubled in a run and Kayla Swenson singled in two runs to make it 5-0 in the bottom of the fourth inning.

Austin struggled out of the gates in the nightcap as Stewartville jumped to a 4-1 lead in the first inning against Swenson, who pitched game two.

“It’s hard when you bring in a pitcher who hasn’t pitched in a long time and then you get down four runs in the first innings. I”m proud of the the girls for not getting too mentally down on themselves,” Jacobs said. “We’ve learned a lot from these losses and hopefully we can take that and turn them into positives.”

Stewartville 0 0 0 0 1 0 1 — 2 3 1

Austin 0 0 2 3 0 2 X — 7 10 2

Austin pitching: Brooke Pazurek (W) 7 IP, 3 H, 5 BB, 2 ER, 10 K, 1 HBP

Austin hitting: Justine Reimers, 1-for-3, 2 RBIs; Cally Heiny, 0-for-3; Keisha Berg, 0-for-3, R; Brandi Meyers, 1-for-3, double, RBI, R; Jordan Huntley, 1-for-3, SB, R; Pazurek, 2-for-3, double, RBI, 2 R; Kayla Swenson, 3-for-3, 2 doubles, 3 RBIs, 2 R; Jess Peil, 1-for-3; Ally Wood, 0-for-1, R, HBP; Abby Googlewski, 1-for-2; Bailee Brooks, 0-for-2

Austin 1 0 0 0 0 0 3 — 4 3 1

Stewartville 4 0 0 0 1 4 X — 9 10 1

Austin pitching: Swenson (L) 6 IP, 10 H, 4 BB, 9 R, 8 ER, 5 K, 2 HBP

Austin hitting: Brooks, 1-for-1, 2 R, SB, 2 BBs; Heiny, 1-for-3, R; Pazurek, 1-for-2, RBI, R, SB, HBP; Swenson, 2 BBs, RBI; Meyers, 0-for-2, RBI; Huntely, 0-for-2, BB; Peil, 0-for-3; Berg, 0-for-2; Wood, 0-for-2; Gogolewski, 0-for-2; Reimers, 0-for-2