The Albert Lea softball team was in St. Clair on Saturday for two games against non-conference opponents.

After beating Alden-Conger on Thursday, Albert Lea faced off against Triton and St. Clair in a doubleheader.

There was no shortage of runs for the Tigers, who struggled to scores runs last season.

Albert Lea had 21 runners cross the plate in the two games.

Triton 14, Albert Lea 11

The Tigers got off to a hot start against Triton in the first game of the day.

Albert Lea pushed across nine runs in the second inning to take a 9-3 lead.

But Triton would respond in the fourth inning and would eventually take a 14-11 lead.

“After the second inning, we couldn’t get our groove back,” Tigers coach Casey Kortz said. “We made defensive errors that cost us some runners and we couldn’t respond with our offense.”

Albert Lea starting pitcher Megan Johnson battled inside the circle, striking out seven batters, but Triton’s offense was hitting everything Johnson was throwing.

“The girls played a long and hard game, but came up short,” Kortz said.

Albert Lea 10, St. Clair 9

The second game had a much happier ending for the Tigers, courtesy of catcher Kathryn Flaherty, who hit a walk-off home run in the bottom of the 10th inning.

Being down 6-1 heading into the bottom of the fourth, Albert Lea responded with eight runs to take a 9-6 lead. St. Clair would respond with three runs over the next few innings, and then the two teams played extra innings.

Albert Lea pitcher Liana Schallock pitched a scoreless 10th inning, which also happened to be her 10th inning of the game, and handed the game over to Flaherty, who had spent a total of 17 innings crouched behind the plate.

She wanted one thing — to end the game.

“Before (Kathryn) stepped up to the plate, she told me her legs were tired and that she was ready for this game to be over,” Kortz said. “She helped make that happen.”

In the circle, Schallock earned her first career win in her first varsity start. She struck out five batters.

Albert Lea will play a double-header at Red Wing on Monday.