Britt Vaubel is the kind of player you don’t notice very often on the baseball field. That’s because he quietly does his job without much fanfare.

Vaubel, the starting shortstop for Mankato’s VFW Post 950 baseball team, delivered another inconspicuous performance Saturday, helping his team to an 8-3 victory over Arlington and a berth in today’s finals of the Southwest Subdistrict, Second District Tournament at Veterans Field.

Vaubel caught every ball within his grasp, made sure all his throws were accurate and also helped out offensively with two hits, two RBIs and two runs scored.

“It’s difficult to say how valuable your starting shortstop is to your team except that you need him to play well every day,” Mankato coach Ethan Anderson said. “Britt is not the flashy kind of player who’s going to show up on ESPN’s Web Gems, but he’s going to make all the routine plays and throw the ball across the infield 130 or 140 feet accurately almost every time.

“He’s been very consistent for us this season. And he’s hit the ball in this tournament for us, too. I know he was close to .300 before the tournament started and I’m sure he’s above that now.”

Vaubel said he prides himself on defense. Given the choice between getting the clutch base hit to knock in a couple of runs or making the stellar defensive play to nail a baserunner, he said he’d go defense every time.

“Anytime you get a chance to get a runner out you have to take it,” he said. “I like hitting but I really like playing defense.”

Vaubel’s performance led an errorless effort by Post 950 Saturday. Mankato also played well in the other two facets of the game, getting timely hits and good pitching. It was probably the team’s best all-around effort of the tournament.

“It’s satisfying as a coach to be able to look at the scoreboard at the end of the game and see a zero under the E column,” Anderson said. “You almost always give yourself a chance to win if you’re not giving the other team extra bases or extra outs.”

Derek Quame delivered the good pitching against Arlington, scattering four hits, walking three, striking out seven and allowing three earned runs.

Joe Kopel joined Vaubel in leading Post 950’s nine hit attack.

He smacked two hits, walked twice and scored a run. Tim Young took the loss for Arlington.

Arlington will now take on Chaska in the finals of the loser’s bracket at 1 p.m. today. The winner of that game faces Mankato at 3:30 p.m. If a second championship game is needed, it will be played Monday at 6 p.m.