ASHLAND, Wis. -- The UW-Superior softball team came from behind to win the first game, 11-8, and then blitzed Northland, 16-3, in five innings to sweep an Upper Midwest Athletic Conference doubleheader at LumberJill Field on Tuesday.
The Yellowjackets batted .537 (36-for-67) on the day with six extra-base hits to improve to 28-8 overall and 15-3 in the league, keeping pace with Bethany Lutheran at the top of the standings.
Game 1 -- UW-Superior 11, Northland 8
Trailing, 6-4, entering the third inning of the first game, UWS scored four runs to take control. A
Bryton Kukowski (Duluth, Minn./Hermantown) double to center field with one out scored
Zoe Thomson (Le Sueur, Minn./Le Sueur-Henderson) and
Tiffany Kirk (McHenry, Ill./McHenry East) to knot the game, 6-6.
Jessica Jacobson (Sturgeon Bay, Wis./Southern Door) followed with a double of her own, this one down the left-field line, plating Kukowski for the lead.
Then, with runners on second and third with two out,
Kaela Kraemer (Spring Green, Wis./Wisconsin Heights) singled to score Jacobson.
Holding an 8-7 advantage in the fifth, Superior added two more with a Kirk bases-loaded walk and Thomson run-scoring single through the left side of the infield, both with one out in the inning, to make it 10-7.
Ellie Macal (Winona, Minn./Cotter) closed the 'Jackets' scoring in the top of the seventh with a sacrifice fly to left field to account for the final.
Tayler Kraemer (Spring Green, Wis./Wisconsin Heights) improved to 16-5 with her 15th complete game of the season, scattering 12 hits and five earned runs for the win. She also was 2-for-5 at the plate with a run scored and was one of six Superior players with multiple hits in the contest.
Kirk went 3-for-4, spearheading the UWS offense, which collected 16 hits. Thomson, Kukowski, Jacobson and freshman
Lily Hanson (Cloquet, Minn./Esko) posted two hits apiece in the win. Hanson had a bases-clearing, three-run triple in the second inning to highlight her day.
Sofia Garcia (4-11) took the loss in the circle for Northland, surrendering 10 earned runs.
Game 2 -- UW-Superior 16, Northland 3 (five innings)
UWS scored at least one run in every inning of the second game to complete the sweep, including 13 times in the final three frames.
All starting position players notched a hit led by Macal, who was 4-for-4 with three runs scored and two RBIs out of the No. 5 spot in the lineup.
Kaela Kraemer (Spring Green, Wis./Wisconsin Heights) and Kukowski also had three hits in four at-bats with Kukowski coming up with a two-run double in the six-run third stanza.
Allison Luoma (Iron River, Wis./Northwestern) shared pitching duties with fellow freshman
Emma Pillion (Ottawa, Ill./Ottawa Township) with Luoma scattering seven hits and three runs with a walk to move to 10-3 on the season. Pillion fired two shutout innings to nail down the win.
Kayla Preisler absorbed the game-two loss for the LumberJills in the circle, lasting three innings and giving up nine runs and 10 of Superior's season-high 20 hits.
Northland falls to 7-25 overall and 6-12 in the UMAC with the sweep.
The two teams meet again Friday to open the second UMAC crossover weekend on Friday in North Mankato, Minn. First pitch is set for 4 p.m. at Caswell Park.
