ALDEN — The Alden-Conger softball team took full advantage of a fresh start with the beginning of the section playoffs Monday against Faribault Academies in Alden.

Freshmen Ali Songstad threw seven strong innings and the Knights got the bats rolling in a 6-4 victory over the Cardinals in the first round of the 1A subsection playoffs, which ended a nine-game losing streak for Alden-Conger.

“It’s a big win for us,” said Knights head coach Gary Nelson. “Any win is a big win for us since we won only two for the year. The girls were happy, again we went out and played hard.”

Things appeared to click for Songstad, who got the victory.

In her last outing she gave up 15 hits and walked nine batters.

On Monday, she allowed only six hits and didn’t walk a batter.

“We changed her pitching stride a little bit,” Nelson said. “We kept her a little shorter, so she wasn’t as long and that helped her keep the ball down.”

With a strong outing, Songstad also got run support from Knights’ bats.

Alden-Conger scored the game’s first two runs in the bottom of the third.

Sophomore Nikki Schultz had three hits and an RBI for the Knights, but the big blow came courtesy of Alden-Conger senior Katie Monson.

With the score 3-2 in the bottom of the fifth, Monson lined a single to left that scored Haley Knutson and Anna Skov to give Alden-Conger some much-needed breathing room and a 5-2 lead.

While the hits were a welcomed sight, the errors in the field were not.

All four runs Faribault Academies scored came courtesy of fielding miscues from the Knights.

“You can’t let the ball roll between your legs in the outfield, which we had two of them today,” Nelson said. “We can correct the infield ones, but the outfield ones, they got to get down on the ball.”

The Knights travel Randolph Tuesday to play the second-seeded Rockets.

“They played good competition, we played good competition,” Nelson said. “We’ll find out, whoever wants the game the worst will win.”

Alden-Conger 6, Faribault BA 4

Faribault BA 000 020 2 — 4 6 3

Alden-Conger 002 121 x — 6 8 4

WP—Ali Songstad 7 IP, 6 H. 4 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 4 K

LP— Payton Brown 7 IP, 8 H, 6 R, 5 ER, 2 BB, 4 K