Staff photo by Travis Rosenau Sleepy Eye’s Lydia Helget (5) prepares to deliver a pitch as Minnesota Valley Lutheran’s Becca Kuck prepares to take off from first base during a Tomahawk Conference softball game on Monday at MVL High School.

NEW ULM — After Monday’s Tomahawk Conference softball game with Minnesota Valley Lutheran came to a close, Sleepy Eye started the season 3-0 for the first time since 2016.

Monday also saw the varsity pitching debut of Sleepy Eye sophomore Lydia Helget, who finished her first start in the circle without allowing a hit.

Behind Helget, the Indians downed the Chargers 12-2 in five innings at MVL High School.

The Indians started 2016 off with a 3-0 mark and finished the year with three playoff wins and a 17-8 record.

Helget, who transferred to Sleepy Eye last season from Sleepy Eye St. Mary’s, admitted to having some control issues during the game as she allowed six walks, but her teammates made enough plays behind her and she also struck out seven to earn the five-inning no-no.

“I couldn’t hit my spots [laughs],” Helget said. “But my changeup started to work. Inside and outside were kind of on the line of good and bad, but when I got them, they were good. Threw a couple rise balls, they didn’t take those as much as other teams have with our other pitchers … but it was just regular fastballs. I would say I throw pretty hard for [a sophomore.]”

Indians head coach Sydney Geiger said she’s happy to get Helget in the circle this year and said the team is confident in what Helget will bring to the table.

“She transferred, so she had to play on JV last year, so that’s a whole situation, but even last year we knew what she was capable of and what she would bring to the team,” Geiger said. “So we’re excited for her this year to get her chance on the mound, and we’re 100% confident in her and know she can do it. In the beginning, kind of struggled finding the strike zone a little bit, but she found it and we knew she’d find it and she did really well. Obviously, pitching a no-hitter is pretty impressive for your first start.”

After a shaky first game of the season at home last Thursday against a tough Wabasso squad, a 14-1 Wabasso win in five innings, the Chargers did put the ball in play against Helget.

But they weren’t able to get enough solid contact to lead to hits on Monday and scored both of their runs after errors, MacKenna Dressel scoring both runs in the first and fifth innings after drawing walks.

“She is a good pitcher,” MVL head coach Katie Scherer said of Helget. “I think our girls have one pitcher to hit off of outside of games, so to see other pitchers is still new for [us] experience-wise. I feel like my top three hitters are pretty solid and the rest is kind of wide open … but I think as we keep seeing live hitting, it’ll help us. I’m happy with the contact, that’s all I can ask for. And as we start going through, it’ll happen, but I’d like to see a few less looking strikeouts, for sure, I’d like to be aggressive at the plate.”

Taylor Berkner led the Indians at the plate, going 3 for 4 with a triple and two RBIs.

Becca Kuck took the loss for the Chargers in five innings, giving up nine hits and three walks for three earned runs. She struck out five.

“We know what she’s capable of and she’s a really good pitcher,” Geiger said of Kuck. “Like I told the girls, she’s not going to walk many players. She knows how to find that strike zone and she knows how to hit her spots and she has those pitches. So I just told them that we need to be aggressive from the start. It’s not that we weren’t being aggressive, we just weren’t getting the contact that we wanted. I think Taylor broke it open for us, and that kind of cracked it open for everyone else and gave them the confidence to hit.”

The Indians got things going in the fourth on a leadoff triple to right by Berkner. Helget grounded out to score Berkner and tie the game at 1-all before Katelyn Tauer walked and Brissa Hernandez, who went 2 for 3, singled to keep the inning going.

Jade Sellner dropped a bunt down right in front of the plate to move both runners up and reach first safely. Nora Coulson then grounded out to score two and put the Indians ahead 3-1.

The fifth inning was led by Tauer’s two-run double to left. Hernandez singled in a run in the inning also, but four MVL errors in the inning also proved costly as the Indians batted around and finished the nine-run fifth up 12-1.

While the a throwing error from home allowed Dressel to reach second base and third safely, a throwing error from third base allowed her to score. A two-out walk to Ashlyn Rodewald followed that, but Helget got a strikeout to end the game early.

The Indians have had some early-season struggles in recent years, so the 3-0 start to the 2023 campaign is bringing smiles and confidence to the team.

“We just had one of our players say, ‘Oh, that’s the best record we’ve ever had.’ [laughs],” Helget said. “And I was, like, that feels really good for me because I started all three games, two at third and pitching [today], so it felt really good to be a part of that.”

The Indians will have a tough doubleheader test Tuesday when they travel to Wabasso for conference action. MVL hosts Springfield for a conference doubleheader on Thursday.