SUPERIOR, Wis. - After a nine-day hiatus the Yellowjacket softball team returned to the diamond Saturday morning to being their best-of-three series at the NBC Spartan Sports Complex. Coming into Saturday's match-up, Team Black was rolling, taking two of the last three games from Team White.

Temperature at opening pitch was in the low-30s, but that didn't do anything to keep the bats from being anything but red hot on the field. Black scored nine runs in the top of the first inning and never looked back, cruising to a 23-5 win over White.

Black scored in every inning except the sixth, adding a single run in the second before scoring four more times in each of the third, fourth, and fifth innings and adding a single run in the seventh. Black pounded out 23 hits on a day where the offense was in mid-season form from the very first pitch.

Kaela Kraemer (Spring Green, Wis./Wisconsin Heights), who posted a .515 batting average through 10 games before the COVID-19 pandemic shut down play last spring, had a monster day in the batter's box for Black. Kraemer went 6-for-6 including a double and a triple. She also scored five runs while driving in four to pace the offense for Black. Marley Burd (Glendale, Ariz./Centennial) added five hits, including two doubles and a long home run. She scored four times and drove in five. Hailee Melgeorge (Superior, Wis./Superior Senior) also had a big day, finishing with four hits and driving in five runs of her own.

On the other side, White's Olivia Bancroft-Hart (Cambria, Wis./Cambria-Friesland) matched Burd, launching a two-run home run off the scoreboard in right field in the seventh inning. Bryton Kukowski (Duluth, Minn./Hermantown) added a hit and scored a pair of runs for White, who also got hits from Davriana Horvath (Esko, Minn./Esko) and Kayla Behrman (Finlayson, Minn./Willow River Secondary).

With Saturday's win, Black has the one-game advantage over White as both teams prepare for game two of the best-of-three series, which is schedule to take place Thursday, October 29. The opening pitch is set for 6:00 p.m. from the NBC Spartan Sports Complex in Superior.