NAPLES, Fla. – Monday morning, under sunny skies and with temperatures in the 80s, the Yellowjacket softball team took to the field for their third straight day of action in Florida as part of the 33rd Annual Gene Cusic Collegiate Classic. Since arriving in Florida, the sun and balmy temperatures have agreed with the Yellowjackets, who won their first four games since leaving the Twin Ports just in time to avoid the latest dusting of snow.
 
The Yellowjackets were able to extend their winning streak to five games, but also saw the streak come to an end, as they finished Monday with a split at North Collier Park. The Yellowjackets downed Nazareth in a slugfest, 17-11, before falling to New York University in a 3-1 pitcher's duel.
 
Heading into Tuesday's off day, the Yellowjackets have a 7-3 record.
 
Game One
The offense was rolling for both the Yellowjackets and Nazareth in the opener, with the teams scoring early and often and combining for 28 runs and 38 hits.
 
The Yellowjackets opened the scoring in the top of the first when Larissa Snyder (Blaine, Minn./Spring Lake Park) walked and stole both second and third bases before coming home on a Tayler Kraemer (Spring Green, Wis./Wisconsin Heights) sacrifice fly to make it 1-0. Nazareth answered in the bottom of the first, however, roughing up Yellowjacket starter Samanth Swartz to the tune of three runs on five hits to pull ahead, 3-1. The damage could have been worse, however, as Swartz pitched out of a bases-loaded jam to end the inning.
 
In the top of the second the Yellowjackets surged ahead.
 
They loaded the bases with nobody out and MyKenzie Leccia (Somerset, Wis./Somerset) singled home two runs to tie the game. Norah Schmitz (Waconia, Minn./Waconia) scored on a groundout and Leccia came home on a wild pitch to give the Yellowjackets a two-run lead. A Nazareth error plated Kraemer and Tiffany Kirk (McHenry, Ill./McHenry East) scored on a wild pitch to make it a 7-3 game.
 
After Nazareth scored in the bottom of the second to make it a 7-4 game, the Yellowjackets answered in the top of the fourth when pinch runner Erika Mattson (Ely, Minn./Ely Memorial) scored on a groundout.
 
In the top of the fifth the Yellowjackets continued to pour on the offense. The Yellowjackets loaded the bases with one out and Kirk brought a run home with a sacrifice fly. Zoe Thomson (Le Sueur, Minn./Le Sueur-Henderson) followed with a double to left, scoring two more runs. Then, Jenna Hoops (Woodbury, Minn./Visitation School) hit her first home run of the season, clearing the fence in left to make it a 13-4 Yellowjacket lead.
 
Nazareth didn't go away quietly, however. Needing some offense to prolong the game, the Golden Flyers put seven runs across, turning a one-time blowout into a 13-11 barnburner.
 
Order was restored in the top of the sixth, though, as the Yellowjackets got a few runs back to put things out of reach. Snyder singled home Bryton Kukowski (Duluth, Minn./Hermantown) to make it a three-run game at 14-11. Two hitters later Kirk drove in two more with a double down the line in left field. The Yellowjackets got their final run when Izzy Lingle (Enumclaw, Wash./Enumclaw) scored on an error to make the final score 17-11.
 
The Yellowjackets had 16 hits in the game, getting three apiece from Thomson, Leccia and Snyder. Kirk was big in the clutch, driving in four runs.
 
Swartz got the start for the Yellowjackets and was lifted after just one inning. Georgia Youngblood (Ray, Mich./Lutheran North) came on and allowed eight runs (five earned) on 10 hits in four innings. She earned the win, the first of her Yellowjacket career, to make her record 1-0. Kraemer pitched the final two innings to get her first save of the season.
 
Game Two
As offensive as the first game was, the second was anything but, as the Yellowjackets and NYU combined for just 12 hits in a swiftly played seven-inning game.
 
NYU opened the scoring, getting an RBI-single in the top of the third to make it 1-0.
 
It looked like one run would be enough for NYU, as it stayed 1-0 until the bottom of the sixth, when the Yellowjackets final drew even. Held to just two hits to that point, the Yellowjackets manufactured a run to tie the game.
 
With two outs, Kraemer reached on an infield single and advanced to second on a fielding error. Thomson then drove a single to left, plating the speedy Kraemer to make it 1-1. The Yellowjackets got the go-ahead run to third, but couldn't push it across to take the lead.
 
NYU made the Yellowjackets pay, scoring twice in the top of the seventh to move in front 3-1. The Yellowjackets got the tying run to the plate in the bottom of the inning, but that's as far as the rally got and their winning streak went by the wayside.
 
The Yellowjackets had just four hits in the game, with Kraemer, Thomson, Kukowski and Cassie Bergman (Duluth, Minn./Duluth East) each getting one.

Kraemer got the start and went the distance in the circle, allowing three runs on eight hits. She walked two and struck out four.
 
After being off Tuesday, the Yellowjackets return to action Wednesday when they take on William Patterson and Wilmington. The games will begin at 8 a.m. CDT.