CONRAD — BCLUW softball was able to hold off a late rally from North Tama to advance in the Class 1A Region 6 bracket with a 12-10 victory at Dave Lee Field on Friday night.

The Comets will play at Don Bosco on Wednesday in a regional softball quarterfinal matchup. North Tama bows out at 7-12.

The Redhawks scored four runs with two outs and had the bases loaded but BCLUW pitcher Klayre Gallentine was able to get a hard groundout to the Comets’ lone senior, Cameron Bergman, who tagged the first-base bag for the final out.

“I just had to throw strikes,” Gallentine said. “And our team could play the defense we needed behind me. Cameron’s our senior and she’s one of our biggest team leaders, so we had full confidence in her.”

Gallentine got a big cushion of run support with five BCLUW runs in the fifth inning, including RBIs for Cassie Nason, Raegan Crawford and Grace Farnsworth.

“We only had three hits off [North Tama starter Sydnee Bliss] last time, so our focus was to really get out there and jump on her,” BCLUW head coach Megan Yantis said. “And I felt like we did that from the very first inning.”

North Tama struck back with a five-run second inning to take a 5-2 lead that included a three-RBI hit from Gabriella Seda that was aided by a Comet error.

“When we made [Gallentine] throw a little more, we had more success that way,” North Tama coach Madonna Merchant said.

Nason and Crawford answered with their first RBIs of the night in the bottom of the second, but Yantis said it still felt like the Comets had left their foot off the gas.

Morgan Bergman pressed the accelerator back down with her second home run of the season in the fourth inning, a two-run shot that put the Comets up 7-5.

“We all stood up, we knew it was gone,” Gallentine said of watching Bergman’s roundtripper. “That momentum carried over to the rest of our hitters and carried on through the rest of the game.”

Down to their final out, the Redhawks did not relent.

Lydia Taylor reached on an infield error and Faith Dvorak and Kinsley Even delivered back-to-back hits. Bliss helped herself with a bases-loaded hit by pitch and the Redhawks added consecutive bases-loaded walks. Seda’s fourth RBI of the night followed and suddenly North Tama was one swing away from at least tying the game.

While that didn’t quite pan out for the Redhawks, first-year head coach Merchant was pleased to see the fight.

“We’re working very hard on changing the culture around Redhawk softball,” Merchant said. “We’re playing with more pride, we’re playing with more fight, more consistency, and they know that they can be in games and start to turn the corner and win games, which is something that has not happened in a long, long time with this program.”

North Tama will have everyone back next season, too.

“Our numbers were great this year,” Merchant said. “I’m proud of them and appreciate all the work they put in. We’ve got something established now, and when we come back next year, we’re just going to keep working on it.”

After dispatching one Iowa Star foe, the Comets get another one on Wednesday in the Dons. Don Bosco defeated BCLUW 8-0 in Conrad on June 21.

“The first four or five innings, we were right there with them,” Yantis said. “I think we just need that mentality to stay with it and finish. We need that five, six and seven [innings].”