MINNEAPOLIS/ST. PAUL, Minn. -- Senior Tiffany Kirk's (McHenry, Ill./McHenry East) sinking line drive to right field with one out in the top of the seventh inning got by Maggie Oehlerking, allowing Tayler Kraemer (Spring Green, Wis./Wisconsin Heights) to score from second and tie the UW-Superior softball team's Upper Midwest Athletic Conference showdown with Northwestern, 4-4, on Saturday at Reynolds Field.
 
The Eagles, though, got the walk-off winner in the bottom of the seventh to pull off a 5-4 victory in a game that was delayed for two hours, 17 minutes in the bottom of the sixth due to lightning.
 
A single to left field from UNW's Kate Beer plated Megan Lundt as the Yellowjackets split on the final day of the first UMAC Crossover weekend of the season. 
 
UWS topped North Central, 12-4, in five innings in the first game of the day and sit at 25-7 overall and 12-2 in the league heading into a pivotal doubleheader with Northwestern (16-9, 10-2) Monday morning at NBC Spartan Sports Complex in Superior.
 
Game 1 -- UW-Superior 12, North Central 4 (five innings)
The Yellowjackets erased an early 2-0 deficit courtesy of a Delaney Riddle home run in the top of the first, answering with two in the bottom of the frame. Kirk doubled right field, scoring Tayler Kraemer (Spring Green, Wis./Wisconsin Heights) who singled with one out and stole second. Next up, Zoe Thomson (Le Sueur, Minn./Le Sueur-Henderson) then pushed Kirk home to tie the game at 2-2.
 
UWS took the lead with a pair in the bottom of the second inning on an RBI groundout from Thomson and run-scoring single by Ellie Macal (Winona, Minn./Cotter) to make it 4-2.
 
Up, 5-2, through three and a half, the 'Jackets put the game out of reach, sending 11 to the plate, scoring seven runs on six hits.
 
Jessica Jacobson (Sturgeon Bay, Wis./Southern Door) hit a one-out double to center field to plate Macal for a 6-2 advantage before Olivia Bancroft-Hart (Cambria, Wis./Cambria-Friesland) lined a two-run single to center to extend the lead to six. UWS then used two consecutive RBI base hits for a 12-2 edge. Tayler Kraemer's (Spring Green, Wis./Wisconsin Heights) triple down the left-field line scored Bancroft-Hart and Bryton Kukowski (Duluth, Minn./Hermantown), Kirk's single to left scored Tayler Kraemer (Spring Green, Wis./Wisconsin Heights) and a Thomson's base hit up the middle chased Kirk in.
 
A one-out double by Riddle got a pair of runs back in the top of the fifth, but Allison Luoma (Iron River, Wis./Northwestern) struck out both Isabella Gallardo and Selma Carrasco swinging to end the game.
 
Luoma improved to 9-2 overall in her ninth complete game of the season. She scattered seven hits and four earned runs with one walk. Luoma struck out 10 Rams, just one off of her season high.
 
Tayler Kraemer (Spring Green, Wis./Wisconsin Heights) and Macal each went 3-for-4 to lead the 12-hit attack. Tayler Kraemer (Spring Green, Wis./Wisconsin Heights) scored three runs, knocked two in and stole two bases. 
 
Catherine San Miguel (0-1) took the loss in the circle for North Central, surrendering 11 earned runs and six walks with one strikeout. 
 
The Rams fell to 11-23 and 2-13 in the UMAC in defeat.
 
Game 2 -- Northwestern 5, UW-Superior 4
Following the extended weather delay in the bottom of the sixth inning trailing 4-3, Tayler Kraemer (Spring Green, Wis./Wisconsin Heights) worked around a one-out single to retire the Eagles with the help of a fly-ball double play. Kraemer reached with one out in the top of the seventh when Telma Roesler's throw from shortstop sailed high. 
 
Kirk then took the first pitch she saw from Briggs Carlson into right. Oehlerking was caught in between and allowed the ball behind her as Tayler Kraemer (Spring Green, Wis./Wisconsin Heights) raced in to tie the game.
 
Thomson roped a ball to left for the second out that was hit too hard for Kirk to attempt to tag and score, and Macal lined to second base to end the inning.
 
Roesler coaxed a one-out walk in the bottom of the seventh off of Tayler Kraemer (Spring Green, Wis./Wisconsin Heights) and Hannah Woodworth followed with a single. UWS retired the lead runner at third base on a fielder's choice groundball, but Beer won it with her base hit to left, scoring pinch runner Reganne Henning.
 
Superior took a 1-0 lead in the top of the first inning as Kaela Kraemer (Spring Green, Wis./Wisconsin Heights) singled, stole second and third and came home on a grounder to the pitcher by Kirk. The Eagles responded two take a 3-1 lead in their half of the frame, adding one more in the second inning for three-run lead.
 
Tayler Kraemer (Spring Green, Wis./Wisconsin Heights) hit an RBI single to third base, scoring her sister to make it 4-2 with one gone in the top of the third. Two batters later, and with Tayler Kraemer (Spring Green, Wis./Wisconsin Heights) on second after a steal, Thomson singled to left to shave the deficit to 4-3.
 
Carlson (7-5) earned the win for UNW in the circle, allowing three earned runs on nine hits and two walks. She fanned three. Tayler Kraemer (Spring Green, Wis./Wisconsin Heights) took the loss, falling to 14-5. She scattered 11 hits and five walks while striking out three.
 
UWS received two-hit outings from Kaela Kraemer (Spring Green, Wis./Wisconsin Heights) (2-for-3, two runs, one walk and four steals) and Macal. 
 
The teams are set to meet for two more Monday at 11 a.m.