MANKATO, Minn. – The UW-Superior softball team opened the season in the Bethany Invitational against UW-Stout taking a pair of losses at the Maverick All-Sports Dome Saturday.
 
Stout took the opener, 8-6, in come-from-behind fashion and won the second, 7-6. 
 
The Yellowjackets erased an early 1-0 deficit in the first game with a two-run top of the second inning. After a Davriana Horvath (Esko, Minn./Esko) walk started the inning, Marley Burd (Glendale, Ariz./Centennial) doubled to put runners on second and third. Jessica Jacobson (Sturgeon Bay, Wis./Southern Door) followed, reaching on an error at second base to score Horvath and tie the game. Jaconson then stole second with Burd scoring on an error by Stout catcher Michala Belter for the lead.
 
The Blue Devils regained the lead with two runs in the bottom of the third. Korin Hall and Aliyah Smetana executed a double steal with Smetana swiping home to make it 2-2. Then, with two out, Kate Funk reached on an error that scored Smetana. 
 
Kaela Kraemer (Spring Green, Wis./Wisconsin Heights) knotted the game again in the top of the fifth with an RBI single with runners on first and second with no one out. The 'Jackets took the lead in the sixth on Kaileigh Miller (Superior, Wis./Superior Senior) RBI single that scored Jacobson for a 4-3 edge. 
 
Stout sent 10 batters to the plate in a decisive five-run sixth inning. With the game tied, 4-4, Meghan Kelly doubled home Hall with one out. Two batters later, Kayli Pfeffer added a two-run single and Belter followed with a run-scoring single of her own for an 8-4 advantage. 
 
UWS scored twice in the seventh – on one-out error and a Jacobson RBI single – but couldn't finish off the comeback.
 
Jacobson finished game one 3-for-4 with a run scored and an RBI and Miller was 2-for-3 with a run and RBI. Tayler Kraemer (Spring Green, Wis./Wisconsin Heights) went 5.1 innings and gave up 12 hits six runs (four earned) to take the loss. Maddee Kleinschmidt got he win in relief of Sommer Kunstmann, pitching the final two innings. 
 
Stout built a 6-0 lead in the second game through two and a half innings, before the 'Jackets tied things with a six-run bottom of the third.
 
Kaela Kraemer (Spring Green, Wis./Wisconsin Heights) singled home Miller with the bases loaded and no outs and Horvath followed with an RBI single, scoring Tiffany Kirk (McHenry, Ill./McHenry East). Burd then came up with a two-run double for a 6-4 game. Jacobson then hit a double of her own to plate Horvath and Burd for the tie. 
 
Stout got the game-winning run in the top of the fifth on a two-out single by Shannon Jones.
 
Kaela and Tayler Kraemer (Spring Green, Wis./Wisconsin Heights) had two hits apiece to the lead the 10-hit UWS attack in the second game. Tayler Kraemer (Spring Green, Wis./Wisconsin Heights) took the loss in four innings of relief and Malania Madill (Canyon, Minn./South Ridge) and Burd.
 
The 'Jackets return to action next Saturday in a doubleheader at Augsburg beginning at 12:30 p.m.