The United South Central Rebels celebrate after defeating the Martin County West Mavericks twice to advance to the Minnesota State Softball Tournament.

The No. 2-seeded United South Central Rebels knew they had their work cut out for them heading into last Thursday when they took on the No. 1-seeded Martin County West Mavericks.

There was no margin for error. Already having one loss in the double-elimination Section 2A tournament, the Rebels would need to defeat the Mavericks twice to qualify for the State Softball Tournament.

With tensions high and blood pressures soaring, that’s exactly what they did.

USC 3, MCW 1

The first game saw USC take an early 1-0 lead in the top of the first inning. The Rebels maintained their one-run advantage until the Mavericks tied the game in the bottom of the fifth inning.

Still tied at 1-1 after seven innings, the Rebels came to bat in the top of the eighth inning. Mariah Anderson hit a one-out single and stole second base. After another out, Alivia Bruegger came to bat and launched the first pitch she saw over the left-field fence to give USC a 3-1 lead.

Anderson worked a 1-2-3 eighth inning to seal the Rebels victory.

The pitcher’s duel saw Anderson give up one run on four hits while stranding nine MCW runners on base. She struck out 12 batters and walked four. The Mavericks’ Maddie Carlson gave up eight hits while striking out five batters. She did not issue a walk and left four USC runners stranded on base.

USC 7, MCW 1

In the second game it was the Mavericks who took the early 1-0 lead in the bottom of the first inning.

The Rebels tied the game in the top of the fourth when Grace Walton singled and later scored on a single by Izzy Bird.

USC took the lead for good in the top of the fifth inning and once again it was Bruegger who provided the game-winning hit.

Hannah Niebuhr singled with one out to get things going. A single by Anderson and a walk to Ivy O’Rourke loaded the bases and brought in relief pitcher Sydney Clow for MCW to face Bruegger. Bruegger doubled to the outfield fence to drive in two runs. After a walk to Walton, Izzy Bird singled to drive in another run and give the Rebels a 4-1 lead.

“Alivia is a strong young girl who hits with a lot of power,” USC coach TJ Schmidtke said. “She’s a good athlete who is faster than you think.”

The Rebels added three insurance runs in the top of the seventh inning and then celebrated when Anderson ended the game by striking out the last MCW batter.

Anderson allowed only two hits in the second game while striking out 10 batters.

The Rebels had 11 hits, led by Bruegger with three and Walton with two.

Bruegger, Izzy Bird and Olivia Bird each drove in two runs during the game.

The defending State Champion Rebels open State Tournament play on Tuesday, June 2, at 5:30 p.m., at Caswell Park in Mankato. The seedings for the State Tournament have not yet been determined.

Elimination Bracket

Day Two

The second round of play in the Section 2A Elimination Bracket took place on Tuesday, May 27 with United South Central facing New Ulm Cathedral for the right to move on and play Nicollet in the Elimination Bracket Championship.

USC 5,

New Ulm Cathedral 2

Mariah Anderson’s two-run home run in the bottom of the second inning staked the United South Central Rebels to an early 2-0 lead. Anderson homered after designated batter Hannah Niebuhr reached base on a two-out single.

The Rebels’ lead did not last long because the Greyhounds came back with two runs of their own in the top of the third inning.

Tied at 2-2 heading into the bottom of the third inning, Alivia Bruegger singled, stole second base and moved to third base on a ground out to second base by Izzy Bird.

Brielle Obermeyer then walked to give USC two runners in scoring position. Olivia Bird was the next batter and New Ulm Cathedral committed an error on her ground ball which allowed both Bruegger and Obermeyer to score.

The Rebels’ fifth and final run of the contest came in the fourth inning when Anderson singled, stole second base and then scored on a single by Ivy O’Rourke.

USC finished the game with six hits while Anderson’s pitching line showed she allowed five hits while walking two batters and striking out 16.

USC 2, Nicollet 0

The Rebels avenged their earlier loss to the Raiders in the double-elimination tournament by defeating Nicollet 2-0 in an elimination game. With the win USC earned the right to take on Martin County West in the championship bracket.

The Rebels’ Mariah Anderson earned the victory. In seven innings of work, the senior right-hander allowed only two hits, did not walk a batter while striking out a total of 16 Raiders.

Anderson scored in the bottom of the first inning to give the Rebels the only run they would need.

Anderson singled, stole second base, moved to third on a ground out by Ivy O’Rourke and scored on a sacrifice fly by Alivia Bruegger.

Bruegger gave USC an insurance run when she led off the bottom of the fourth inning with a home run over the left field fence. The Rebels tallied a total of six hits with Bruegger and Grace Walton each picking up two, Bruegger had both runs batted in for USC.

The victory by the Rebels eliminated the Raiders from the tournament and sent USC to the championship round against top-seeded Martin County West.

Elimination Bracket

Day One

After losing a 1-0 softball game to Nicollet in the double-elimination Section 2A Softball Tournament on May 21, the defending Minnesota State Class A champion United South Central Rebels moved to the elimination bracket and began their quest to advance back into the championship bracket of Section 2A.

USC 7,

Mountain Lake/

Comfrey 0

Their first game in the elimination bracket was on May 23, against the Mountain Lake/Comfrey Wolverines at Caswell Park in Mankato, a game which USC won 7-0.

The Rebels wasted no time in taking the lead in the bottom of the first inning. Lead-off batter Mariah Anderson walked and promptly stole second and third base. The second batter, Ivy O’Rourke, also walked and then stole second base.

A single by Alivia Bruegger scored Anderson with what proved to be the only run the Rebels needed.

A walk to Grace Walton filled the bases. USC would go on to score three more runs in the first inning with two of the runs being driven in on a single by Brielle Obermeyer.

The Rebels added one more run in the bottom of the fifth inning and two more in the bottom of the sixth.

Meanwhile, Anderson was dominant on the mound, allowing only two hits and only one Wolverines’ runner got past second base.

Anderson fanned 17 of the 23 batters she faced in the game.

The Rebels scored their seven runs on five hits. Anderson had two hits while Bruegger and Obermeyer each finished with two runs batted in.

USC 1, Cleveland 0

(11 innings)

After defeating Mountain Lake/Comfrey in the opening game of the elimination bracket, the No. 2-seeded Rebels advanced to take on the No. 4-seeded Cleveland Clippers who had lost 3-2 to the No. 1-seeded Martin County West Mavericks for their first loss of the tournament.

When the Clippers and Rebels met earlier in the season, USC won a close 3-2 game. With elimination from the Section 2A Tournament on the line, USC once again pulled off a one-run victory, scoring one run in the bottom of the 11th inning to triumph 1-0 and move on to the next round of Section play.

USC’s pitcher Mariah Anderson was once again in top form and did not allow Cleveland to have a base runner until the top of the 10th inning when the Clippers got their only hit of the game. Cleveland’s next batter walked but the Clippers’ runners were left stranded on base when Anderson recorded her 17th strike out of the game to end the inning.

The Rebels got the walk-off win in the bottom of the 11th inning without recording an out. Grace Walton singled to start the inning and ended up scoring on errors on balls hit by Izzy Bird and Olivia Bird.

USC had a total of seven hits during the game. Three of those hits came off the bat of Walton. Alivia Bruegger had the only extra-base hit of the game, a double.

Anderson ended up with a total of 19 strike outs. She walked one batter.