The Southland softball team expected to take its lumps in its first year playing in the Three Rivers Conference. But now that the regular season is over, the Rebels intend to show what they learned along the way.

Southland (10-12) secured a spot in Saturday's Section 1A Tournament by beating Blooming Prairie 6-3 Wednesday night at Todd Park in the West Sub-Section finals. The Rebels rallied up five runs in the bottom of the first inning, and freshman pitcher Michelle Landherr and the defense around her made it stick.

"Our bats came out early tonight," said Southland coach Karleen Retterath. "We'd still like to see that continue through the rest of the game, but boy it sure is nice when its all coming at the same time."

Southland racked up more hits against Blooming Prairie pitcher Emily Wencl than it did against LeRoy-Ostrander/Grand Meadow in last Saturday's semifinal round. Seven different Rebel batters accounted for one hit each, inclduing senior Carrie Shawback's RBI-triple to cap Southland's five-run first.

"They had a lot faster pitcher, and we've seen that speed all year," Retterath said. "It was better for our bats."

After Landherr struck out two of the first three Blossom batters, Southland's offense went to work. Leadoff hitter Megan Schroeder was hit by a pitch, and Amanda Landherr and Amy Walerak both reached on bunts meant to be sacrifices.

Shannon Halbach plated the first run with her chopper up the middle, and Allison Chapek's single scored two after the Blossoms threw the ball around the infield.

Bridget Felton blooped an RBI-single into right field, and Shawback followed one out later with her shot to the right-center gap. Coach Retterath put up the stop sign but Shawback, like the rest of the Southland squad, would not be stopped.

"We try to do that every inning," Schroeder said of the five-run outburst. "It's exciting, but we have bigger goals though. We're still going."

Schroeder led off the second inning with a single, stole second and scored two outs later on an error. Blooming Prairie committed three errors, but Wencl faced the minimum over the final four innings as the defense stood up behind her.

Southland did not strike out once, nor did the Rebels accept a base-on-balls.

The Rebels play at 11 a.m. Saturday at Todd Park against East Sub-Section runner-up Wabasha-Kellogg, which lost to Houston in the championship game before beating Elgin-Millville on the way back.

"We just need to play the game we've been playing all year and it's going to come out OK," Retterath said. "This was a big confidence booster here."

Landherr struck out six in her second postseason victory. She allowed five hits and three Blooming runs, all of which came in the fifth inning.

"She's doing really good toward the end of the season," Schroeder said. "We like playing behind her. We just needed to get the outs and come back and hit."

The Blossoms stranded the bases loaded in the fourth before finally breaking through in the fifth. Blooming Prairie got a two-run double from Rachel Long -- scoring Angela Noble and Andrea Miller -- to trim the Southland lead to 6-2. One out later Amanda Schlund delivered an RBI-single to right field.

Pinch hitter Stephanie Njos led off the seventh with a triple to deep center but was stranded by Landherr and the Rebel defense, which went the game error-free.

Linescore:

B.Prairie0000300--353

Southland510000x--670

Wencl and Schlund; M.Landherr and Howe. WP--Landherr. LP--Wencl.