The Prior Lake softball team avoided the playoff upset this time around — twice.

But that doesn't mean hearts were not pounding in the first two rounds of the Section 2AAAA tournament May 24-25 at Miller Park in Eden Prairie.

The second-seeded Lakers pulled out a pair of one-run wins — 2-1 over over seventh-seeded Chaska in the quarterfinals and 2-1 over sixth-seeded Minnetonka in 10 innings in the semifinals the next day. Juniors Abbey Sagert and Jasmine Ziegler provided the heroics against the Skippers.

Last spring, as the No. 2 seed, Prior Lake lost 2-1 in the first round and finished 1-2 in the tournament after a 17-2 regular season.

Down 1-0 to Minnetonka, Sagert ripped a double to left with two outs in the bottom of the 10th that scored junior Alexandra Pinkowski, who got the rally started with a one-out single.

Sagert might have felt a little lucky to even get that at bat. In the on-deck circle, she nearly got drilled by laser liner off junior Jocelyn Kirk's bat. Kirk was miles out in front of slow changeup and hit a rocket right in front of Sagert and into the fence protecting the Minnetonka bench, missing her teammate by about a three feet. Sagert's heart was pounding for entirely different reason at that moment.

After Sagert's hit tied the game, Ziegler came up with the winning run on third base in Kirk, who walked with two outs to put runners at first and second. Ziegler drove a two-strike pitch right past third base to score Kirk with the winning run.

Prior Lake (20-2) will face top-seeded Chanhassen (21-1) in the winners bracket final May 30 at Miller Park at 4:30 p.m. The winner goes on to the title game June 1 where it will have to be beaten twice to be denied the crown. The loser plays again May 30 against the winner of Minnetonka and fifth-seeded Shakopee.

For complete brackets, click here.

Chanhassen, the defending state champs, are ranked No. 1 in the state, while the Lakers are No. 2.

Meanwhile, Prior Lake played only two one-run games in the regular season, a 3-2 victory at No. 5 Farmington and 12-11 at Apple Valley in South Suburban Conference play. The Lakers went into the playoffs winning eight straight games and outscoring those opponents by a 58-6 margin.

Junior Kailey Ahlstrom went the distance against Minnetonka, striking out 15 and allowing seven hits and the one run. With runners at the corners and two outs in the top of 10th, Ahlstrom took a ground ball off her foot. She recovered quickly and nearly threw out the runner at first in a bang-bang play.

Minnetonka pitcher Kristen Peka struck out 11 Lakers and allowed just six hits, but walked five, including a crucial base on balls to Kirk in the 10th inning. The contrast between Peka and Ahlstrom made the contest that much more interesting. Peka throws medium to slow to slower, while Ahlstrom throws hard to harder most of the time.

Pinkowski finished 2 for 5 with a double and a stolen base for the Lakers, while Zielger had two hits and a stolen base. Junior Danielle Martins also doubled for Prior Lake.

In the win over Chaska, Prior Lake scored the go-ahead run in the bottom of the sixth inning on a suicide squeeze. Kirk doubled to lead off the inning and moved to third base with one out on a wild pitch. Up came Ziegler, who laid down a perfect bunt to score Kirk.

Sagert had an RBI triple in the first inning for the Lakers for an early 1-0 lead. Prior Lake had just four hits, including singles from Ziegler and junior Katie Stewart.

Ahlstrom tossed a three-hitter, striking out 11. She gave up a solo homer in the fourth inning that tied that game at 1-1.

To see more photos of the Lakers' win over Minnetonka, click here.