Class 3A No. 5-ranked Sergeant Bluff-Luton did what no other club had been able to do since the summer of 2002 Thursday night - beat the Akron-Westfield softball team in a War Eagle Conference game.

The Class 1A No. 1-ranked Lady Westerners' 85-game conference win streak came to a close in front of a home crowd Thursday with a 3-2 loss to the Warriorettes.

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In the first meeting of the season between the teams, A-W pulled out a 4-1 win over Sergeant Bluff in what coach Todd Colt called, "Our best complete game of the year so far."

Three errors over the first three innings Thursday ruled out another complete performance for A-W early in the rematch.

"We had three errors the first three innings and it just felt like we were dodging bullets right from the beginning," said Colt. "I thought they outplayed us offensively and defensively tonight. Yet we still had a chance down to the last swing."

A-W entered the bottom of the seventh inning down 3-2, but started the frame with two straight base hits from Tana Colt and Rachel Harris. Shelby Johnson then roped a single to right-center that Sergeant Bluff managed to track down. If that ball drops in, said Colt, it's a whole different result.

"It was a case where she catches it and the game's over. Or she misses it and the game's over," said Colt.

Sergeant Bluff led the game 3-0 at one point, but A-W rallied to within one after a two-run fifth. Alison Kusler hit a one-out single to start the rally and Harris reached on an error, both coming home later in the inning on a Kayla Smith two-run single.

Smith and Colt finished with two hits apiece as the Lady Westerners were limited to seven total on the night.

Sergeant Bluff had just six hits off Smith, who finished with eight strikeouts, but Colt said it was the kind of hits the teams were getting that made the difference.

"They hit the ball hard tonight. It seemed like they hit the ball or struck out," said Colt. "We didn't strike out, but we weren't hitting the ball hard either."

Still, Colt is not upset over the loss. Johnson's hit in the seventh could easily have turned Thursday's game into another win for the Lady Westerners.

"We could have possibly beat them twice and they could have easily beat us twice," said Colt. "I think by splitting with them, it shows that we are both pretty good teams."

A-W (18-1, 11-1) is now tied atop the WEC standings with Sergeant Bluff. The Lady Westerners are gunning for a fifth straight conference title and may now need some help around the league.

"The next two weeks of conference play will be quite interesting," said Colt.

The Lady Westerners' are focused on more pressing matters, however. A-W will compete at the Spencer Classic Friday and Saturday, with games against Storm Lake, Spencer, Charter Oak-Ute and Cherokee on the docket.

"Games like tonight are only going to make us better and after the Spencer tournament, we'll only be better," said Colt. "But we have to outplay our opponents in those games or we'll come up short like we did tonight."