RED WING — The Albert Lea Tigers are used to living on the edge during baseball sections.

Last year, the Tigers lost their first game, but battled all the way back to come within one win of making it to the state tournament.

This year, it was nearly the same story.

After losing to Kasson-Mantorville in the section opener, Albert Lea eliminated Bryon and Kasson-Mantorville to get the opportunity to face Austin on Saturday.

Thanks to a great start from pitcher Cody Ball and tough at-bats on offense, the Tigers disposed of the Packers, 8-3.

But the journey was ended abruptly in a 7-0 loss to Northfield.

“Being a first-year head coach, I couldn’t have asked for a better group of seniors,” Tigers coach Sean Gaston said. “These guys lead by example and set a great example for the next class.”

In the first game of the day and in 90-degree heat, Ball pitched 6 and 1/3 innings, allowed three hits and overcame some pain in the process.

His offense got off to a hot start by taking advantage of some miscues by the Packers.

With the bases loaded thanks to a double from Zach Edwards and back-to-back hit batters, Alex Goodmanson and the Tigers had a chance to break the game open in the first inning against Packers’ starter Josi Bothun.

But sometimes it isn’t the farthest hit ball that does the damage. Goodmanson only managed a 45-foot chopper back to Bothun, who fielded the ball and had all day to make the throw to first. He made the throw, but it was high and outside, and got away from the first baseman. This would allow the bases to clear and give the Tigers a 3-0 lead.

Austin responded with some run in the first as well.

Jack Dankert reached on an error, then Phillip Zynda delivered an RBI double. He would later come around to score on a sacrifice fly.

But that’s as close as Austin would get the rest of the game.

The Packers had a chance to tie the game in the third inning, but a great defensive play by the Tigers kept Albert Lea in the lead.

With Zynda on first, Austin’s Andrew Mueller clobbered a Ball pitch to left centerfield.

Ben Witham fielded it quicker than Zynda initially thought. Witham made a strong throw to Jacob Bordewick, who saw Zynda rounding third and heading for home. Bordewick threw a strike to Edwards, who did a sound job at blocking the plate and applied the tag just as Zynda slid in.

After adding a run in the fourth, Albert Lea got to the Austin pitching staff in the fifth.

The Packers used three pitchers in the inning, and Bordewick and Goodmanson each had RBI singles in the three-run inning.

In the top of the seventh inning, it looked like Ball’s day was going to come to an end after he was hit on the hand on pitch thrown by Dankert. Dawson Luttrell came on to finish Ball’s at-bat, leaving in question who would pitch the last three outs for the Tigers.

But Ball, a senior, dug deep and toughed it out. He got one out in the seventh before being pulled due to hitting the pitch-count limit, which is set at 115 pitches.

“Cody really battled,” Gaston said. “When he got hit on the hand, we didn’t know if he would be able to go back into the game. But he toughed it out.”

Bordewick came on in relief and got the final two outs.

In the second game of the day, Albert Lea’s offense was limited by Northfield pitcher Ross Beumer, despite getting seven hits.

“We had about a three-inning window where we had a chance to do some damage,” Gaston said. “But we couldn’t get that one big hit.”

Albert Lea’s defense had a couple of costly errors than led to some runs, but also turned three double-plays behind sophomore pitcher Parker Andersen.

For the second year in a row, Northfield ended Albert Lea’s season.

Albert Lea’s season ends with a record of 12-12.