It is hard to imagine that a softball team has had as much success as Austin over the past 18 years and not won the annual Elks Softball Invitational since the inaugural event in 1985.

There's no need to imagine anymore.

The 2003 Austin Packers, ranked fifth in Class AAA, pieced together enough runs to win this year's highly competitive six-team tournament, defeating Simley in Saturday's championship game, 3-2. Most of Austin's roster was not born the last time a Packer team took the title.

"The first tournament was the only time we won it until not," said AHS coach Todd Waterbury. "A lot of quality teams have come through in those 18 years."

Austin has qualified for the state tournament four times since 1985, including three trips in the previous four seasons. Now 11-0, the Packers are pepped up for the rest of this year's run.

"This is a big accomplishment for us, it's awesome," said AHS senior Caitlin Jurgensen, who delivered the game-winning RBI in the bottom of the seventh inning to beat Simley. "We're destined. We've got a good team."

Packer pitcher Amy Kelly allowed only one earned run over 22 innings and Austin came from behind to win twice.

"We've been spreading the wealth," Waterbury said. "One through nine have been getting it done. It just shows the depth of our hitting.

"It's great to see everybody get a taste of success, especially in that seventh inning."

That seventh inning was Austin's last at-bat against a 2-1 deficit to Simley. The Spartans scored two unearned runs and led heading into the bottom of the seventh. But the Packers have been behind before, and they've done the job to come back to win countless times.

"Nobody was really nervous going into the seventh inning," Jurgensen said. "We were all confident we could come back."

An error allowed Steph Eslinger to reach as the leadoff hitter. After a stolen base, Betsy Hingeveld moved Eslinger to third with a groundout to the right side. Junior designated hitter Angie Rohne reached with an infield single, and Meggan Rider hammered a line-drive run-scoring single past Simley's solid third baseman Erin Kegley.

Jurgensen, the no. 9 hitter for the Packers, came through in the clutch as well, pounding a pitch over the left fielder's head to plate pinch-runner Lauren Goettsch as the game-winner.

"I just wanted to get it on the ground and get a girl in because there was only one out," Jurgensen said. "I thought she was going to catch it."

But Sarah Heilman, who made one acrobatic catch on a hard-hit ball off the bat of Keri Feller with runners on in the sixth, could not catch up to Jurgensen's shot.

"We're turning the corner with our attitude at the end of the game like that," Waterbury said.

Austin's never-say-die attitude also earned them a first-round victory over Section 1AAA rival Lakeville, 3-2. The Packers scored the tying run in the top of the seventh and plated the game-winner in the eighth.

"It was just the typical Austin and Lakeville ballgame," said Lakeville coach Randy Schmitz. "I thought both teams did a nice job.

"Our concern right now is scoring runs. We weren't able to do that and the end when we needed to and Austin did, and that was the difference."

Eslinger led off the seventh with a double to right-center, and Hingeveld got her over with a sacrifice bunt. Rohne came through with the run-scoring single, ringing in the anniversity of her first varsity RBI from last year's tournament semifinal against Lakeville.

Last year Lakeville scored the game-winner in the bottom of the seventh to win a 2-1 game, but this time the Packers had the late answer.

Kylene Erstad, celebrating her 18th birthday, led off the eighth with a single to break out of her mini-hitting slump. Lakeville went to the bullpen for its other sophomore pitcher, but Shelly Wolf had just as much luck as Marta Radcliffe at stopping Austin's comeback.

Nicole Turvey got the sacrifice bunt down, and Amy Kelly ripped a double to left-center to plate Erstad as the eventual game-winning run.

Kelly struck out nine and gave up one earned run, walking none and surrendering just five hits. Kelly and Eslinger each had two hits.

"We'll see them in the section again and we'll be ready for them," Erstad said of Lakeville. "I think we were all just really nervous in the beginning, but everyone made up for the mistakes and got the outs and got the big key hits when we needed to."

Austin made five errors in each game of pool play, knocking off Hill-Murray by the score of 7-4 Saturday morning. The Packers took a 4-0 lead after three innings and added three much-needed insurance runs in the top of the sixth.

Defensive miscues led to all four Hill-Murray runs, including three in the sixth to make it a 7-4 game. Feller's two-run triple and Eslinger's RBI-groundout gave Austin the addition runs it needed in the sixth.

Rider, Jurgensen and Kelly each had two of Austin's 11 hits.

The Packers (11-0, 8-0) return to Big Nine Conference Tuesday at Todd Park against Rochester John Marshall. The Rockets come to town at 5 p.m. Austin hosts Faribault on Thursday at 5 p.m. as well.