The Alden Blackhawks, a U16 fastpitch softball team, played their first softball game ever Monday, splitting a doubleheader with Austin.

The Blackhawks lost the first game 11-10 and won the second game 7-5, but the results weren’t as important as the fact that they were fielding a team.

The team has a combination of players from Albert Lea and Alden and is giving girls an opportunity to play softball during the summer, something girls from the two towns haven’t had before.

“We wanted them to have some playing time,” said Lori Nelson who helped form the team. “It’s an incentive to give them a chance to play.”

Nelson along with her husband Gary and Rich Lackey formed the team after seeing how fun area players Krystle Nelson and Nikki Schultz had playing for a traveling Zubrota team in the fall. Neither Albert Lea nor Alden thought they could field a team on its own so Lori, who works in the Albert Lea school district, thought of combining players from both towns to organize a traveling team.

Lackey had his daughter play in the United South Central program for a number of years and agreed to help coach as a way to give back for the benefits his daughter enjoyed from the hard work of other coaches.

“It’s kind of nice to give other kids the opportunity,” Lackey said.

He said wins and losses won’t matter as much as the girls learning the game and having fun.

“That’s pretty much what we’ve explained, having fun and working hard,” Lackey said. “Wins and losses are unimportant.”

The Blackhawks had plenty to celebrate after coming back twice in the second game of the doubleheader to win 7-5.

A triple by Holly Cole, an Albert Lea player, drove in two in the fifth inning to seal the game for Alden, the rules of fastpitch softball stipulate that a game is over after seven innings or an hour and fifteen minutes, which ever comes first. The Blackhawks tied the game in the bottom of the fifth and Cole’s triple won the game.

“They had fun,” Lackey said. “It seems like most of them are here to play. Hopefully we’ll keep it going a long time.”

Game 1

Austin 11, Alden 10

Austin – 150 05 – 11

Alden – 231 31 – 10

Game 2

Alden 7, Austin 5

Austin – 010 31 – 5

Alden – 004 03 – 7