WINONA, Minn. – The UW-Superior softball team scored five runs in the seventh inning in game one of its non-conference doubleheader with Saint Mary's for a 6-5 comeback victory Friday at Saint Mary's Softball Field.
SMU freshman right-hander Morgan Dziondziakowski threw a no-hitter for the Cardinals in the second game, allowing just three base runners in a 9-0, five-inning win for the split.
Trailing 3-1 in the opener,
Davriana Horvath (Esko, Minn./Esko) doubled to start the seventh inning and pinch-runner Kaylee Walters scored as
Marley Burd (Glendale, Ariz./Centennial) reached on an error. After a strikeout, both
Kaela Kraemer (Spring Green, Wis./Wisconsin Heights) and
Tayler Kraemer (Spring Green, Wis./Wisconsin Heights) singled to load the bases.
Olivia Bancroft-Hart (Cambria, Wis./Cambria-Friesland) then coaxed a walk off of pitcher Cassie Sutor to tie the game, 3-3.
Dziondziakowski came on, to face
Tiffany Kirk (McHenry, Ill./McHenry East), uncorking a wild pitch that plated
Kaela Kraemer (Spring Green, Wis./Wisconsin Heights) for the a 4-3 lead. Kirk then lifted a fly ball to right field that scored
Tayler Kraemer (Spring Green, Wis./Wisconsin Heights) for a two-run edge. Bancroft-Hart added another insurance run – the eventual game winner – on another wild pitch with
Bryton Kukowski (Duluth, Minn./Hermantown) batting.
The Cardinals mounted a one-out rally in the bottom of the inning as
Tayler Kraemer (Spring Green, Wis./Wisconsin Heights) allowed a single to Erin Sullivan and hit Amy Kulaga. Kraemer induced a fly out to right from Mackenzie Carey for the second out, but an errant throw on the play moved the runners to second and third. Next up, Haley Williams reached on an error by
Kaela Kraemer (Spring Green, Wis./Wisconsin Heights) at shortstop that scored Sullivan to pull to Saint Mary's within one. Lexi Brooks followed with a pinch-hit single, putting runners on first and second, but got Teesa Shafranski to tap back to her in the circle to end the game.
The Yellowjackets used an RBI groundout by Kirk to take a 1-0 lead in the top of the first inning. That's the way it stayed until the fifth when Sutor hit a two-run single for the lead off of Kraemer. Williams added a single up the middle, scoring Carey in the sixth for the 3-1 advantage.
Kraemer improved to 10-7 on the year with the win in her 11th complete game of the season. She yielded eight hits, three earned runs and four walks while striking out seven. The top of the UWS lineup –
Kaela Kraemer (Spring Green, Wis./Wisconsin Heights),
Tayler Kraemer (Spring Green, Wis./Wisconsin Heights) and Bancroft-Hart was 4-for-10 with three stolen bases, four runs scored and one driven in.
Kaela Kraemer (Spring Green, Wis./Wisconsin Heights) led the charge, going 2-for-3 with a walk, two steals and a run from the leadoff spot.
Dziondziakowski allowed
Tayler Kraemer (Spring Green, Wis./Wisconsin Heights) to reach base with the help of a one-out error in the first inning of game two. Kukowski reached on another error with two out in the second and
Hailee Melgeorge (Superior, Wis./Superior Senior) earned a walk in the fifth, but the 'Jackets were unable to solve Dziondziakowski. She struck out three while getting seven fly outs and four groundouts in the no-hitter.
The Cardinals plated two runs in the first, three in the fourth and four in the fifth to spoil Burd's first collegiate start in the circle. Burd scattered eight hits and six walks with one strikeout.
SMU (9-25) hit a pair of homers – a solo shot by Sullivan in the fourth to make it 3-0 and three-run job from Lizzy Baird to end the game. Sullivan, Kulaga and Baird had two hits apiece and Sullivan drove in three runs.
With the split, Superior moves to 17-13 overall and readies for the UMAC tournament, set to get underway May 13 at Kenwood Field in Duluth, Minn.
