ABOVE: Fairmont’s Makayla Lowry (12) throws out a runner at first during a Section 2AA Softball Tournament game against Tri-City Unted Saturday at Caswell Park. Photo by Ari Selvey.

NORTH MANKATO — After battling back to take down third-seeded Tri-City United 7-5 in a Section 2AA Softball Tournament elimination bracket game, the second-seeded Fairmont Cardinals took care of St. James Area in short order with a 12-2 win in five innings at Caswell Park.

Fairmont (15-8) now will play Le Sueur-Henderson at 5 p.m. Tuesday at Caswell Park, with the winner playing No. 1-seeded Lake Crystal Wellcome Memorial in the elimination bracket finals later that night. The winner of that elimination finals game will move on to play seventh-seeded Jordan on Thursday in the section finals. Jordan needs just one win Thursday to advance to state, while the winner of LCWM-Fairmont will need to beat Jordan twice to qualify for the state tournament.

FAIRMONT 7, TCU 5

Trailing by four runs in the fourth inning, the Cardinals scored for two runs in the bottom of the fourth on an RBI single from Makayla Lowry and an RBI single from Bria Williamson. After TCU got a run back in the sixth, Fairmont surged ahead in the bottom of the inning with five runs.

In that big sixth inning for Fairmont, the Cardinals got an RBI single by Williamson to trail 5-3 before an error scored Gabby Leiding to make it a 5-4 game. An RBI double by Gwyn Schultz scored Williamson to tie the game and another double, this time from Brylee Miller, scored two for a 7-5 Fairmont lead.

Lowry and Williamson led Fairmont at the plate, both going 2 for 3, while Schultz and Miller each went 2 for 4. Leiding added a triple.

Miller earned the win in the circle in all seven innings, allowing four hits and two walks for three earned runs while striking out nine.

FAIRMONT 12, SJA 2 (5 INNINGS)

After their win over TCU, the Cardinals were quick to get back on the scoreboard at the expense of the Saints.

The Cardinals scored a run in the first inning when Schultz scored on a wild pitch. SJA got the run back in the third and took one more run in the fourth, but Fairmont scored seven runs in the fourth to break things open.

In the seven-run fourth inning, the Cardinals tied it on an RBI single from Ilana Moeller and took the lead on an RBI single from Lowry. Williamson drove in a run on a fly-ball single to right to make it 4-2 before SJA got the second out of the inning. Schultz was hit by a pitch with the bases full to bring in another Fairmont run and make it 5-2 before Miller doubled to center to clear the bases and put Fairmont ahead 8-2.

After Miller got out of a bases-loaded situation in the top of the fifth, the Cardinals got a four-run bottom of the fifth to trigger the 10-run lead rule and end the game early. In that fifth inning, the Cardinals got a three-run single by Williamson to go up 11-2 before Schultz ended the game with an RBI double to left.

Williamson, Lowry, Schultz and Miller each went 2 for 3 at the plate to lead the Cardinals’ bats against the Saints, with Schultz adding a triple.

Miller pitched all five innings in the win, allowing four hits and three walks for two earned runs while fanning two.