By John RittenhouseThe Luverne softball team experienced a promising start to the season after posting an 8-7 win over Sioux Valley-Round Lake-Brewster-Southwest United in Brewster Tuesday.The Cardinals opened an 8-3 lead after 2 1/2 innings of play and thwarted a late rally by the hosts to secure a one-run victory.For a team that won seven games in 2004 and lost a number of close contests, coming out on top of a tight battle was a welcome sight for LHS coach Steve Semmens."For the first game, it wasn’t too bad. We didn’t hit the ball exceptionally well, and we made some mistakes we shouldn’t have," he said. "For the first game, we’ll take it."Luverne took a 3-0 lead in the top of the first inning with Jessa Dahl slapping a two-run single and Sarah Ailts adding an RBI single, but SV-RL-B-SU battled back in the bottom of the inning to knot the score at three.The Cards scored two runs in the second inning and three in the third to open a five-run (8-3) advantage.Ailts, who had three hits and three RBIs in the game, and Tori Snyder singled home runs in the third for LHS.Dahl capped a four-RBI game with a two-run single in the third. Ailts added another run-scoring single before the inning was complete.SV-RL-B-SU scored one run in the fifth inning and added three more counters in the bottom of the seventh before Luverne recorded the final out of the game.Sarah Wynia went the distance on the hill to pick up the win. She fanned 10 batters and walked nine.Natalie Domagala led the Cards at the plate with four hits.Luverne plays in Edgerton Friday.