OSHKOSH, Wis. -- The UW-Superior softball team posted a pair of come-from-behind victoriesto open the 2022 season at the UW-Oshkosh Softball Invitational on Saturday, beating Wisconsin Lutheran, 10-4, and Ripon, 10-6, at the UWO Rec Plex.
 
The Yellowjackets overcame early 4-1 deficits in both contests, using an eight-run bottom of the fourth inning in the first game to take control against WLC, and scoring five times in their final two at-bats versus Ripon.
 
Game 1 -- UW-Superior 10, Wisconsin Lutheran 4
After falling behind by three through an inning and a half, UWS (2-0) exploded for eight runs on five hits to take the lead. Superior sent 13 batters to the plate in the decisive frame with the first three reaching on singles to load the bases.
 
Junior Jessica Jacobson's (Sturgeon Bay, Wis./Southern Door) sacrifice fly scored freshman Ellie Macal (Winona, Minn./Cotter), cutting the Wisconsin Lutheran (0-1) lead to 4-2. A throwing error at third allowed classmate Lauren Giesen (Bloomington, Minn./Jefferson) to scamper home before senior Olivia Bancroft-Hart (Cambria, Wis./Cambria-Friesland) lined a single to left, scoring Bryton Kukowski (Duluth, Minn./Hermantown) to tie the game.
 
Junior Kaela Kraemer (Spring Green, Wis./Wisconsin Heights) then stroked a double down the left-field line, plating Bancroft-Hart and freshman Norah Schmitz (Waconia, Minn./Waconia) for a 6-4 lead. That spelled the end of the day for Warriors' starter Jena Almodovar (0-1). Callie Terrill, on in relief, promptly uncorked a pair of wild pitched that allowed Kaela Kraemer (Spring Green, Wis./Wisconsin Heights) to score. 
 
Later, two walks and hit by pitch loaded the bases again, and Kukowski made WLC pay. She ripped a single down the right-field line off of the third pitcher of the inning, Kacey Mietsner, scoring Tiffany Kirk (McHenry, Ill./McHenry East) and Tayler Kraemer (Spring Green, Wis./Wisconsin Heights) to push the lead to 9-4.
 
Freshman Zoe Thomson (Le Sueur, Minn./Le Sueur-Henderson) singled up the middle in the sixth, scoring Kirk, who started the inning with a walk, for the final margin.
 
Tayler Kraemer (Spring Green, Wis./Wisconsin Heights) settled in to go the distance in the circle and earn the victory. She scattered six hits and six walks and fanned three. Almodovar lasted 3.1 innings, surrendering seven runs (six earned) on seven hits.
 
Superior banged out 10 hits in the win with five different players collecting two apiece.
 
Game 2 -- UW-Superior 10, Ripon 6
UWS rallied from 4-1 down for a second consecutive game in the nightcap, plating three in the top of the third and one in the fourth to take the lead. The 'Jackets pulled off a double steal with Kirk scoring on the play to pull within two. Macal then singled to center and moved to second on an error to score Kirk.
 
Consecutive groundballs from Thomson and Kukowski tied the game, 4-4.
 
UWS took the lead with two out in the fourth when Kaela Kraemer (Spring Green, Wis./Wisconsin Heights) hit a ground-rule double, stole third and came home on an error at shortstop.
 
Ripon (0-3) got the run back in the bottom of the fifth, but a run-scoring grounder from Tayler Kraemer (Spring Green, Wis./Wisconsin Heights) plated Giesen and Kirk followed with an RBI single to right, scoring Bancroft-Hart.
 
Leading 7-6 heading to the seventh, the 'Jackets put the game away. Kaela Kraemer (Spring Green, Wis./Wisconsin Heights) lined a base hit through the middle with two out, scoring Bancroft-Hart and freshman pinch runner Evelyn Thomton (East Bethel, Minn./Centennial). Kaela Kraemer (Spring Green, Wis./Wisconsin Heights) then swiped second and third before an error at third base made it 10-6.
 
Tayler Kraemer (Spring Green, Wis./Wisconsin Heights) (2-0) threw the final five innings in relief of freshman Allison Luoma (Iron River, Wis./Northwestern), who allowed four hits, four runs and two walks. Savanna Trittelwitz (0-2) took the loss for the Red Hawks, giving up 10 hits, five earned runs and five walks in a complete-game effort.
 
The first four hitters in the UWS order -- Kaela Kraemer (Spring Green, Wis./Wisconsin Heights), Tayler Kraemer (Spring Green, Wis./Wisconsin Heights), Kirk and Macal -- combined to go 7-for-18 with seven runs driven in and eight of the team's 11 stolen bases in game two.
 
Superior faces Ripon again Sunday at 10 a.m., before closing the weekend against tournament-host and 12th-ranked UW-Oshkosh at noon.