The Staples Motley girls softball team last week split two games with Perham before losing a match up to Frazee.

This week the Cardinal girls, who received a sixth seed in the Section 8 AA playoffs, began section play on Tuesday afternoon playing No. 3 seed Frazee.

The softball playoff is a double elimination tournament. The first round winner advances to face another first round winner, while the two losers will also play again on Thursday, May 21.

Perham won 5-4 in the first game of their Mid State Conference double header before the Cards came back to win the nitecap 5-2.

In the first game, SM was up two runs going into the bottom of the first. A walk and three singles along with passed balls allowed Perham to go up 3-2.

Perham scored again in the third to go up by two. "We came back to put us within one. We scored again in the fifth to tie but allowed them to score in the bottom of the fifth to go ahead. Errors hurt that inning," according to coach Bruce Onischuk.

"Darci McGillivary played shortstop last night and played an outstanding game.(both games). She went 2 for 3 scoring one and knocking in two," Onischuk said.

Abby Edin pitched and helped her cause by going 2 for 2 and knocking in a run.

"Overall we played well but came up short in the end. The girls hit the ball very well. In several at bats the girls crushed the ball but the hits were right at the defense.

In the second game, Onischuk said, "We played a very clean game only committing one error. The girls made several outstanding defensive plays."

Angie Bernstrom had a good game with the bat going 2 for 4 scoring twice. The rest of the hits were scattered throughout the game.

"We had bases loaded several times with two outs but just couldn't get the big hit. Defense kept us in the game. Abby did a nice job of pitching. She was able to keep the ball down and hit her spots."

Playing Frazee May 14, Frazee scored two unearned runs in the bottom of the third. They scored 2 more in the fifth and 1 in the sixth.

"Our girls hit the ball but couldn't get the timely hit to score any runs. We tried to safety squeeze a run home but Frazee made a great play to stop us for the third out at the plate. Rachael Hoemberg went 2 for 3 and the other hits were scattered throughout the game.

"We made some big changes defensively against Frazee. Rachael Hoemberg was moved from short to third, Darci McGillivray was moved from right field to short, Ashley Miles moved from third to second, and Angie Bernstrom was moved from second to first.

"We still made three errors. Not good but a huge improvement from previous games. Overall, I was very pleased with the way the girls played. Frazee played a clean game and made the plays. We had one rough inning. They hit the ball and put three earned runs on the board," ONischuk said.

"Abby pitched a good game. Her control was good and she was hitting her spots. She gave up only five hits and two walks. In a lot of cases that could easily win a game. We just didn't come through with the bats. Abby also had a good night with the bat going 1 for three