The Albert Lea softball team has gone up against some of the best pitching in the Big Nine Conference this week and Thursday was no different against Rochester Mayo starter Sarah Bohlen, but then again Tigers failed to help themselves out.

Albert Lea (5-11, 1-11 Big Nine) issued six walks against the Spartans (9-3, 9-2) and three came around to score in a 7-1 Mayo victory at the Hammer Complex in Albert Lea.

The Spartans scored on two wild pitches and the Tigers committed a fielding error in the fourth inning with two outs that led to another Mayo run.

“The thing that has really hurt us has been the walks and passed balls,” said Albert Lea head coach Chad Feikema. “We’re not very far away, but there’s a few mistakes here and there that we make that quite honestly drive me crazy.”

The defense, which Feikema believed at the start of the season would be a strong point has not been lately. The Tigers committed three errors in the field against the Spartans.

“We hit the ball better than I probably would have anticipated at the beginning of the year,” Feikema said. “Defensively we’re probably not playing quite as well as I would have anticipated at the beginning of the year.”

Albert Lea missed an early opportunity to get on the board in the first inning when it had bases loaded and one out, but the next two batters stuck out. Albert Lea stranded six runners in the game.

Mayo took the lead in the second inning when Kelli Anderson drew a leadoff walk. Anderson advanced to second on a wild pitch and to third on a dropped third strike before coming around to score on a groundout.

The Tigers responded in the bottom half of the inning when Jenna Christensen’s double scored Laura Gaudian.

Then Bohlen put it into cruise control.

Albert Lea went down in order in four of the final five innings, striking out five times.

Bohlen allowed just one run on three hits in seven innings of work, striking out nine and walking one.

“She is probably one of the top two pitchers in the league when she throws strikes,” Feikema said. “The thing with her is that she has been a little bit wild and we saw that early in the game. She’s tough to hit, very good pitcher.”

The Tigers host Mankato East, who has one loss on the season, in a doubleheader Tuesday at the Hammer Complex.

Mayo 7, Albert Lea 1

Mayo 013 200 1 — 7 6 0

Albert Lea 010 000 0 — 1 3 3

WP — Sarah Bohlen 7 IP, 3 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 9 K

LP — Lana Howe 7 IP, 6 H, 7 R, 4 ER, 6 BB, 6 K