DULUTH, Minn. – Sophomore Kaela Kraemer (Spring Green, Wis./Wisconsin Heights) drove a 2-2 pitch to the gap in right-center field for a triple with one out in the top of the ninth inning, breaking a 4-4 tie, as the UW-Superior softball team topped Bethany Lutheran Saturday morning at Kenwood Field to advance to the UMAC tournament championship series.
 
Tayler Kraemer (Spring Green, Wis./Wisconsin Heights) then rocketed a single off the pitcher and up the middle to score her sister for an insurance run and a 6-4 margin. Tayler Kraemer (Spring Green, Wis./Wisconsin Heights) worked around a one-out Bethany Lutheran base hit in bottom of the inning to nail down the win, her third of the week.
 
The two-run ninth ended a game that was suspended in the top of the eighth inning on Friday due to darkness. The win puts UWS in the UMAC championship series beginning at noon Saturday with Superior needing to beat Northwestern twice to secure the league's automatic qualification to the NCAA tournament.
 
The victory also gives UWS (20-14) at least 20 wins in a season for the first time since 2016 and just the 12th time in 34 years, dating to 1987.
 
Freshman right fielder Kaileigh Miller (Superior, Wis./Superior Senior) began the ninth-inning rally with an infield single to shortstop with one out, moving to second on a passed ball and third on a wild pitch on consecutive offerings from BLC pitcher Kassidy Cunningham before the tiebreaking extra-base hit.
 
Trailing, 4-3, heading to the sixth, UWS tied the game. Tiffany Kirk (McHenry, Ill./McHenry East) walked and was sacrificed to second by Bryton Kukowski (Duluth, Minn./Hermantown). Jessica Jacobson (Sturgeon Bay, Wis./Southern Door) then came up with a single and stole second. BLC second baseman Liz Milam mishandled the throw, allowing Kirk to score on the play.
 
The Vikings took a 2-0 lead in the first inning with an RBI double from Zoe Kinakin and run-scoring single by Eden Ambrose off of Superior right-hander Amanda Kishish (St. Francis, Minn./St. Francis). The 'Jackets responded with two runs in the top of the second to tie the game, 2-2, when Marley Burd (Glendale, Ariz./Centennial) scored Kukowski and Kirk with a single through the left side.
 
Bethany came back with a two-run single to left field in the bottom of the frame by pinch hitter Emily LeMasurier to retake a 4-2 advantage prior to an Olivia Bancroft-Hart (Cambria, Wis./Cambria-Friesland) groundout that plated Kaela Kraemer (Spring Green, Wis./Wisconsin Heights) in the third.
 
Tayler Kraemer (Spring Green, Wis./Wisconsin Heights) moved to 13-8 with seven innings of two-hit relief. She struck out three and walked five.
 
The Yellowjackets outhit BLC, 9-8, as the Kraemers combined to hit 5-for-9 out of the top-two spots in the order. Kaela Kraemer (Spring Green, Wis./Wisconsin Heights) finished 3-for-5 with two run scored and an RBI. 
 
Cunningham (13-10) took the loss for the Vikings, surrendering seven hits and two earned runs in six innings of work out of the bullpen in relief of Alyssa Kosta.
 
Bethany Lutheran's season ends at 21-17 overall.