The No. 6 seeded Austin softball team picked the right time to hit its stride as it kept its season alive with a pair of wins in the Section 1AAA tournament in Todd Park Thursday.

Austin battled back from an early deficit to beat Red Wing (6-16 overall) 5-4 and it topped Byron (13-9 overall) 6-3.

Shayley Vesel had a walk-off RBI against the Wingers and Jaidyn Bastian singled in a pair of runs to put the Packers (6-16 overall) up 5-3 in the top of the seventh inning against Byron.

“Getting that first win boosted our momentum a lot and I think that’s what drove us to beat Byron,” Vesel said. “I feel like we got better today than we have all year. For some reason it just clicked.”

Byron had scored two runs in the top of the sixth to tie the game up at 3-3, but Austin loaded the bases to set up Bastian’s big hit, which she drove past Byron’s second baseman.

“I wasn’t ready to end the season yet,” Bastian said. “I just felt like I wanted to keep it going and I feel a lot closer to everyone [on the team] now.”

The Packers made some huge defensive plays Thursday and one of the biggest ones came when Brooke Pazurek caught a fly ball in right field and threw a runner out at home to keep the score tied at 1-1 in the fourth.

“It was unbelievable,” Austin head coach Al Eckmann said of the play. “Shayley did a great job of blocking the plate too.”

Sophomore Hannah Rasmussen picked up both pitching wins for the Packers as she went 11 innings and allowed just four runs.

Eckmann said it was nice to see his team reach its potential with the season on the line.

“I was hoping we would’ve played like that all year long,” Eckmann said. “We didn’t make a lot of mistakes, we hit the ball timely and we had good at bats. It’s great. We beat some good teams and we’re still alive.”

Austin will play No. 5 Stewartville in an elimination game at Todd Park 5 p.m. Tuesday.

Austin 6, Byron 3

Austin pitching: Hannah Rasmussen (W) 7 IP, 6 H, 2 BB, 3 R

Austin hitting: Brooke Pazurek, 0-for-4; Addison Medgarden, 1-for-4, double, R; Shayley Vesel, 2-for-4, double, RBI, R; Jordan Huntley, 1-for-2, BB, HBP; Brandi Myers, 2-for-4, R; Kelsey Sederquest, 0-for-3, R, BB; Bailee Brooks, 0-for-4; Jaidyn Bastian, 2-for-4, 2 RBIs; Halie Retterath, 1-for-4, RBI

Austin 5, Red Wing 4

Austin pitching: Tori Gardner, 3 IP, 9 H, 3 R, 4 K; Rasmussen (W) 4 IP, 2 H, 1 R, 2 K

Austin hitting: Pazurek, 0-for-4; Medgarden, 1-for-3, double, R, BB; Vesel, 1-for-4, RBI, R; Huntley, 0-for-2, BB; Myers, 0-for-3, BB; Sederquest, 1-for-3; Justine Reimers, 1-for-3; Bastian, 0-for-2, SB; Gardner, 1-for-1, double, R; Rasmussen, 0-for-2, R