By John RittenhouseThe Luverne softball team secured three victories while playing seven games in a stretch that started last Thursday.Jackson County Central swept a Southwest Conference doubleheader from the Cardinals in Luverne Thursday before the Cards went 1-2 at the Fairmont Tournament Saturday. Luverne won both ends of a SWC twin bill in Windom Monday.Luverne, 5-10 overall, will take a three-game winning streak into a doubleheader in Pipestone today.Windom twin billLuverne recorded its first SWC doubleheader sweep of the season when it pulled out a pair of close victories in Windom Monday.The Cardinals nipped the Eagles 11-9 in eight innings during the opener before posting a 9-8 victory in the finale.Luverne led 9-6 heading into the bottom of the seventh inning in Game 1, when Windom put together a three-run rally to knot the score at nine.The Cardinals survived the scare by scoring two runs when Jessy Behr picked up two of her four RBIs in the game on a sacrifice fly in the top of the eighth. Windom was unable to counter in the bottom of the inning, giving the Cards an 11-9 victory.Natalie Domagala slapped three hits, drove in two runs and scored four times in the first game. Kerri Fransman drove in one run with two hits. Sarah Ailts added two hits.Stacy Lorenzen pitched all eight innings of the opener to pick up the win. She walked eight batters and fanned six.Luverne rallied from an 8-6 deficit to post a one-run victory over the Eagles in Game 2.The Cardinals tied the game at eight after plating single runs in the fourth and sixth innings.Luverne won the tilt in the bottom of the seventh when Domagala walked, advanced to second base on Fransman’s bunt single and scored on Taylor Nelson’s game-winning single to left field.Nelson and Fransman both had three hits and three RBIs in the finale. Kim Shelton added two hits.Sarah Wynia was the winning pitcher. She walked eight batters and recorded four strikeouts in seven innings.Fairmont tourneyThe Cardinals won one of three games during Saturday’s tournament in Fairmont.Luverne lost a 2-1 decision to Le Sueur-Henderson in the first round and lost by 11 runs to Blue Earth Area in the second round before rolling to an 18-11 victory over Worthington in the finale.The Cards and L-H played nine innings before Luverne fell by one run in the opener.Luverne led 1-0 when Domagala reached base on an error and scored on Behr’s RBI single in the third inning. L-H, however, tied the game at one in the sixth before winning it with a counter in the bottom of the ninth.Lorenzen tossed all nine innings and took the loss. She fanned nine batters, walked five and allowed three hits.Behr’s RBI single was Luverne’s lone hit in the game.BEA blanked the Cardinals 11-0 in the second round.The Bucs scored nine runs in the first three innings and prevailed by the 10-run rule after scoring two counters in the fifth.Wynia went the distance on the mound and took the loss. She walked five batters and struck out two.Behr, Shelton and Lorenzen slapped one single each in the game.The Cardinals coasted to an 18-7 win over Worthington in the finale.Luverne scored eight runs in the first three innings and put the game away by erupting for 10 runs in the top of the fifth.Tori Snyder picked up the pitching win, and Lorenzen recorded a save.Chelsea Van De Berg drove in four runs with four hits, Domagala drove in three runs with three hits, Fransman had two hits and one RBI, and Jessa Dahl and Wynia each had one hit and three RBIs.JCC twin billThe Cardinals were unable to pick up a victory when they entertained JCC for their first home game in a month Thursday in Luverne.JCC posted a 9-1 win over Luverne in Game 1 of the Southwest Conference doubleheader before securing a 12-4 victory in the finale.The Huskies scored seven runs in the first three innings to set the stage for victory in Game 1.Luverne plated a run in the bottom of the third when Wynia walked and scored on a single by Domagala to make it a 7-1 game. JCC, however, went on to outscore the Cards 2-0 the rest of the way to win by seven.Lorenzen pitched all seven innings for the Cards, walking four batters and recording one strikeout in the opener.Behr had two hits at the plate.Luverne sported 1-0 and 3-1 leads early in Game 2 before falling by eight runs at game’s end.Domagala walked and scored on a wild pitch to give the Cards a 1-0 edge in the top of the first.The game was tied at one heading into the top of the third, when Behr stroked a two-run triple to put LHS in front 3-1.JCC tied the game at three in the bottom of the third before scoring nine runs in the next three frames to take a commanding 12-3 advantage.Domagala homered to cap the scoring in the seventh.Wynia pitched all seven frames and allowed seven hits.Domagala slapped two hits to lead LHS at the plate.
