ST. PAUL, Minn. – On the heels of its run the conference championship, the UW-Superior softball team landed four players on the 2021 All-Upper Midwest Athletic Conference Teams, the league announced Monday.
Freshman right-handed pitcher
Tayler Kraemer (Spring Green, Wis./Wisconsin Heights) earned a first-team selection and a spot of the all-defensive team while junior
Olivia Bancroft-Hart (Cambria, Wis./Cambria-Friesland) was honorable mention, along with sophomores
Tiffany Kirk (McHenry, Ill./McHenry East) and
Kaela Kraemer (Spring Green, Wis./Wisconsin Heights). Bancroft-Hart was also named to the all-defensive team in center field and is the Yellowjackets' representative on the UMAC Sportsmanship Team.
Tayler Kraemer (Spring Green, Wis./Wisconsin Heights) was dominant in Superior's run to the UMAC title, earning tournament MVP honors after going 5-1 with a 1.25 ERA in 44.2 innings with 33 strikeouts and five complete games. Heading into the NCAA tournament, she is 15-8 in the circle with a 2.21 ERA in 149 innings and 16 complete games. She finished the UMAC season leading the league in ERA, innings pitched and opposing batting average (.235). She was also third in the UMAC in both strikeouts (111) and wins.
Kraemer is also the team's second-leading hitter, batting .376 (44-for-117) with 28 runs scored, two doubles, one triple and 12 RBIs.
Defensively, she made just five errors in 121 chances for a .959 fielding percentage.
Kraemer was also named UMAC Pitcher of the Week on March 8.
Bancroft-Hart batted .357 with five doubles, five triples, 20 RBIs and 12 walks. She is a perfect 12-for-12 in stolen bases, as well. Bancroft-Hart is third on the team with nine multiple-hit games and four multi-RBI games while also tying for a team-best nine-game hitting streak.
She has a .966 fielding percentage in 58 chances this season, making just two errors with one outfield assist.
Kirk, the 'Jackets' second baseman, is hitting .318 with 15 doubles this season, a mark that is 23rd in the country. She also has 29 RBIs and 13 walks, against just one strikeout on the season and is the 29th toughest batter to strikeout in the country.
Kirk has nine two-hit games on the year and eight multiple-RBI games, including a four-RBI game against North Central on April 6.
Kirk was named UMAC Player of the Week April 12.
Shortstop
Kaela Kraemer (Spring Green, Wis./Wisconsin Heights) leads the team with a .413 batting average with 45 hits in 109 at-bats. She second on the team with 14 doubles and three triples while also leading the Yellowjackets with 20 walks. Kraemer is top on the team with 25 stolen bases in 29 attempts.
She has 13 multiple-hit games and including hitting safely in the first nine games of the season, a stretch that also included three two-hit games.
UWS will open play in the NCAA Waverly regional at Wartburg at 22-14 on the season, the first time since 2016 the Yellowjackets have reached 20 wins. Superior will begin the regional against No. 19 St. Olaf Friday at 10 a.m.
