The Austin softball team began its campaign in defense of its section title in fine fashion Thursday afternoon, riding Amy Kelly's fourth career no-hitter to a 6-0 win at Owatonna.

"It was a good start to the season for us," said AHS head coach Todd Waterbury. "We got some terrific pitching and defense, which is important at this stage in the year."

Despite the final score, it was Owatonna who had the first chance to get on the board. The Huskies got their leadoff hitter aboard when the throw to first on a change-up in the dirt hit the runner and prevented the Packers from completing the strikeout.

This turn of events was almost crucial as Owatonna parlayed it into a second and third, one-out situation with their clean-up hitter at the plate. Kelly was able to induce a groundball to first that Nicole Turvey fielded and fired home, nailing the lead runner and effectively ending the threat.

"That play at home really fired us up," Waterbury said, "and we were able to turn it into some momentum when we got up to bat in the next inning."

Meggan Rider started things off for the Packers by bunting her way to first. Kylene Erstad then followed with a double down the left-field line to score Rider with what would turn out to be the game-winning run.

Austin was able to load the bases on a Betsy Hingeveld bunt single and Amy Kelly's fiedler's choice grounder. A Keri Feller base hit brought in the second run and kept the bases full. Turvey then rapped a single to left that made it 3-0.

With the bases still loaded, Caitlin Jurgensen hit a bloop up the middle that spun away from the Huskie infielders and brought in two more runs, as Lauren Goettsch, running for Feller, slid in under the tag to make it a 5-0 game.

"After that first run, they were able to relax a bit and do some damage offensively, Waterbury said.

The Packers added another run in the sixth inning on a two-out Kelly single that brought in Stephanie Sundberg, who had reached on an error.

All of this proved to be more than enough cushion for Kelly, who finished the game with seven strikeouts and no walks to go along with the no-hitter. Kelly tossed her third career no-hitter at Owatonna last year. She was helped out by the defensive efforts of third baseman Steph Eslinger, who had four assists and a putout on a line drive.

Offensively, Hingeveld, Jurgensen, and Turvey all had two hits each, while Erstad's clutch double was the lone extra-base hit for the Packers.

Austin will head to Faribault Saturday for a makeup game against the Falcons. Game time is 2 p.m.

Linescore:

Austin000051 0--6101

Owatonna000000 0--002

WP--Kelly (1-0). LP--VonRuden.