The Austin softball team saw a three-game winning streak come to a halt as it had trouble getting things going in a loss to Owatonna (2-5 overall) by a score of 7-4 in Todd Park Tuesday.

The Huskies grabbed a 5-3 lead in the top of the fourth inning when Patricia Biegert singled in a run and the Huskies plated another run on an error. Austin (4-5 overall) had just three hits while the Huskies had nine hits.

Austin head coach Lisa Lage said her team may have struggled to find their focus against the Huskies.

“I think teams forget how easy it is to play down to your competition,” Lage said. “We always focus on the great teams and what we need to do to be competitive, but I also think it’s just easy to play down to your competition in sports sometimes and I think that’s what happened here. We let them hang around for too long.”

Austin committed two errors in the loss, but the team had trouble making plays on ground balls and pop ups alike.

“That wasn’t our greatest defense, we weren’t pepped up and they weren’t really talking to each other,” Lage said. “There was kind of a lull and that can’t happen. You’ve got to fight through that and hopefully we’ve learned a lesson that you’ve got to come ready to play.”

Owatonna 1 0 2  2 0 2  0  —  7  9  2

Austin 1 0 2  1 0 0  0  —  4  3  2

Austin pitching: Jaeda Bekaert (L) 7 IP, 9 H, 5 BB, 7 R, 6 ER, 7 K

Austin hitting: Madisyn Retterath, 0-for-3, RBI, R, BB; Avery Thompson, 0-for-3, R, BB; Hannah McMasters, 2-for-3, RBI; Bekaert, 0-for-2, BB; Leslie Rodriguez, 0-for-2, RBI; Madisyn Busker, 0-for-1, BB; Jenna Braaten, 0-for-3; Erin Bickler, 1-for-2, R, BB; AJ Richard, 0-for-3; Maggie Sullivan, R; Emilee Lau, 0-for-1