NAPLES, Fla. -- The UW-Superior softball team closed the Gene Cusic Collegiate Classic with a pair of losses to Central on Saturday at North Collier Regional Park.
 
The Yellowjackets fell 11-5 in the first game and 6-1 in the second to conclude their swing through Florida at 5-5. UWS stands at 9-5 on the season overall.
 
In both games, Central (10-6) opened 6-0 leads and held on.
 
Game 1 -- Central 11, UW-Superior 5
The Dutch used a five-run top of the fourth inning to provide separation and take a 6-0 advantage. Megan Doty, Emma Lennox and Carson Fisk posted RBI base hits in the frame with Fisk coming up with a run-scoring double to left-center field.
 
UWS responded with a pair of runs in the bottom of the inning as Tiffany Kirk (McHenry, Ill./McHenry East) singled up the middle, scoring Tayler Kraemer (Spring Green, Wis./Wisconsin Heights) from third to get Superior on the scoreboard. Kraemer doubled down the right-field line to start the inning and advanced on a wild pitch. Then, with runners on first and second and one out, Norah Schmitz (Waconia, Minn./Waconia) singled to right field to load the bases. Jessica Jacobson (Sturgeon Bay, Wis./Southern Door) followed with a fielder's choice that scored Kirk.
 
Doty ripped a double in the fifth, scoring two more, to give Central an 8-2 edge. 
 
Ellie Macal (Winona, Minn./Cotter) added an RBI single in the Superior half of the inning and Kennedy Hanson (Coleraine, Minn./Greenway) coaxed a bases-loaded walk to cut the lead in half at 8-4, but the Dutch plated three more runs in the top of the seventh to put the game out of reach. Hanson, though, connected on an RBI single in the bottom of the inning, scoring Kirk for the 'Jackets final run of the contest.
 
UWS outhit Central, 9-7, with Kirk going 3-for-3 with two runs scored and an RBI. Tayler Kraemer (Spring Green, Wis./Wisconsin Heights) also added three hits in four at-bats and two runs scored. 
 
Central used three pitchers in the game with Morgan Schaben (6-3) earning the victory in four innings of work. She scattered five hits and two earned runs with one walk and three strikeouts. 
 
Tayler Kraemer (Spring Green, Wis./Wisconsin Heights) (5-3) went the distance, giving up seven earned runs and eight walks.
 
Game 2 -- Central 6, UW-Superior 1
Central scored in five different innings in the second game, plating multiple runs in the second and fourth, respectively. Madison Farrington made it a 5-0 lead with a two-run blast to center field in the fourth. Farrington extended the edge again with a sacrifice fly in the sixth, before the 'Jackets got on the board with a Zoe Thomson (Le Sueur, Minn./Le Sueur-Henderson) two-out single.
 
Schaben limited Superior to just two hits in her second start of the day. She threw the first six innings, fanning three and issuing three walks.
 
Superior is back in action against Concordia (Minn.) on March 24 at the Plymouth Dome for a 10:30 a.m. doubleheader.