Photo by Samantha Davis. Murray County Central's Taylor Larson swings at a pitch against Tracy-Milroy-Balaton Monday evening in Tyler. The Rebels defeated the Panthers 8-0, all runs coming in the third inning.

TRACY — After a competitive start in a pitcher’s battle, the Murray County Central softball team found its footing and scored all its runs in the third inning for an 8-0 win over Tracy-Milroy-Balaton on Monday in a non-conference matchup.

“I thought this game was really big for our section, this really helped with our section seeding,” MCC senior Thea Schneider said. “I was glad we kind of held them [TMB] off. Our defense did really well today … That one inning really helped us out. We had safety runs under our belt to keep us through, so that was really good.”

Schneider for MCC and Melaina Ankrum for the Panthers fed off one another the first two innings, both throwing aggressive pitching changeups and strikeouts to challenge the batters.

But, the Rebels began to find an offensive rhythm in the third inning that led to a TMB pitching change to Gretchen Lanoue for the remainder of the night, which was ultimately enough of a lead to carry MCC the rest of the way.

“That’s been the story of our last two weeks. We haven’t been able to stop the bleeding innings like that,” TMB head coach Karl Campbell said. “You look at this game today, it’s dead even … We actually got a couple runners in scoring position, then made some base running mistakes. If we stop the bleeding and keep it to three or four runs in that third inning, then maybe we got a chance to claw back in.”

Schneider, who was in the circle the entire game, had another strong performance with 10 strikeouts and two walks.

“You have to pitch good to have good defense,” Schneider said. “So, I try to keep my mindset [each game] that you start the whole team off, and you have to try to end it.”

Ankrum threw five strikeouts and seven walks in her 2 1/3 innings, while Lanoue finished also with five strikeouts and no walks through 4 2/3 innings.

“She [Ankrum] threw really well against BOLD for us on Saturday,” Campbell said. “She throws hard and she’s a left-hander with a breaking, and that’s hard to hit against.”

MCC got bases loaded right away in its first at-bat with one out, yet Ankrum threw two straight strikeouts to prevent any early runs.

Yet, Schneider did just the same with a pair of strikeouts in TMB’s first batting appearance.

The Rebels went through their entire batting lineup to earn an 8-0 lead in the top of the third, continuing to keep bases loaded, and Lanoue relieved Ankrum with one out.

All eight of MCC’s runs came from different players.

With bases occupied, Ava Deacon and Emmi Peltola scored the first two runs from third base, both coming in from a walk to advance all runners.

Deacon initially got on base with a walk, and Peltola hit a single line drive to center field.

Calleigh Doeden connected for an RBI single out to left center field, running in both Schneider and Elysa Paulzine from third and second base, respectively, for a 4-0 edge. Both Schneider and Paulzine walked to get on base.

“I think some games you start off slow, but when we get our bats going, they’re just on,” Schneider said. “The good thing with our lineup, I don’t think we just have three good hitters or anything. I think our whole lineup can hit the ball and make contact.”

Hits from Kat Miller, Deacon and Schneider accounted for the rest of the runs in the inning, all of which were singles, with Deacon’s counting for two runs.

The Rebels’ defense didn’t allow TMB to get much offensive momentum going the rest of the way.

Overall, MCC finished with eight hits to TMB’s two.

Deacon and Doeden each led with a pair of RBIs, while Schneider had a team-high two hits. Taylor Larson had the largest hit for the Rebels with a double fly ball to left field in the top of the fourth inning.

Ankrum and Allison Dolan had one hit each for the Panthers.

Shortstop Kate Blankenship showed her fielding skills in the fifth inning, making all three outs with a trio of catches, the second of which was in a diving effort to just outside the circle.

TMB had a good inning defensively in the seventh, not allowing any runners on base.

Braelynn Kirk got on base in the Panthers’ final at-bat, but it wasn’t enough as MCC returned the favor defensively, completing the shutout.

The Panthers (6-7) will next look to get back on track today in a doubleheader against Renville County West on the road. First pitch is slated for 4:30 p.m., with the second game to follow.

Campbell acknowledged how much of a mental game softball is, and said he talked with the team postgame about finding a way to stay grounded and focused moving into this week, even when mistakes are made.

MCC (12-4) remains on the road and will take on Mountain Lake Area/Comfrey at 4:30 p.m. today.

“I think this season has definitely been our best season out of a lot of years,” Schneider said. “This is our final week, and then it’s already playoffs next week. I think we’ll end really well, and I think the season has been really good. The team has been very connected, and I think that helps.”