SAINT PAUL, Minn. – It's strange to look at the Yellowjacket softball schedule and see there are only two weeks left in the season, yet there are 11 games remaining in the regular season. Some quick math tells you that is nearly a game a day, and some quick reasoning tells you that the team is in the stretch run.
 
The first two of those 11 remaining games came Wednesday, when the Yellowjackets squared off with Northwestern in a crucial Upper Midwest Athletic Conference (UMAC) doubleheader. The teams met earlier in the year during the first of the UMAC crossover events, with Northwestern emerging as the victor.
 
The doubleheader pitted two of the top three teams in the UMAC against one another, and when all was said and done, Northwestern will be the team that will hold the tiebreaker in playoff seeding, in the event it is needed.
 
In the opener, the Yellowjackets rode timely offense and the strong right arm of Tayler Kraemer (Spring Green, Wis./Wisconsin Heights) to an 8-2 win, before the Eagles rebounding to edge the Yellowjackets 2-1 in eight innings in the second game.
 
With the split, the Yellowjackets are now 22-6 overall and 12-2 in the conference. They have won 15 of their last 17 games and currently sit in second place in the UMAC, 1.5 games behind first-place Bethany Lutheran.
 
Game One
In the first game Wednesday, the Yellowjackets went on the attack early and stayed that way, having scored in five of their seven times at bat.
 
Larissa Snyder (Blaine, Minn./Spring Lake Park) and Kraemer reached base to start the game, putting two runners in scoring position for the heart of the Yellowjacket batting order. Jenna Hoops (Woodbury, Minn./Visitation School) brought home Snyder on a sacrifice fly, and later Kraemer came home with the second run on a squeeze bunt by Ellie Macal (Winona, Minn./Cotter).
 
Tuesday's hero, Norah Schmitz (Waconia, Minn./Waconia) reached on an infield single in the top of the second and came around to score the game's third run on a double my MyKenzie Leccia (Somerset, Wis./Somerset).
 
The Yellowjackets increased their lead in the top of the third when Samantha Swartz (Antigo, Wis./Antigo) drove a one-out single to right center, scoring Hoops from second to make it a 4-0 game.
 
Northwestern scored a single run bottom of the third, but the Yellowjackets got it back in the top of the fourth when Snyder scored on a groundout.
 
The Eagles got another run back in the bottom of the fifth before the Yellowjackets had their biggest inning of the day in the sixth.
 
Leccia, Snyder and Kraemer all singled to load the bases with nobody out. Hoops brought home a run with a single to left, and another run came in on a ground out. The final run of the game came in on a Macal groundout.
 
Kraemer had a good game in the circle, going the distance for her 13th win of the season. She allowed two runs (one earned) on two hits with one walk and one strikeout.
 
The Yellowjackets had 12 hits in the game, led by Snyder who finished the game 3-for-4. She also scored a pair of runs.
 
Game Two
Offense was hard to come by for both teams in the second game. The teams did combine for 16 hits, but runs were at a premium in the game.
 
Northwestern opened the scoring in the bottom of the first, bringing a run home on a fielder's choice.
 
It looked like the one run would hold up as the teams settled into a pitcher's duel, but the Yellowjackets finally were able to break through in the top of the sixth. Swartz led off with a single before being lifted for pinch runner Camille Wikstrom (Hermantown, Minn./Hermantown). Bryton Kukowski (Duluth, Minn./Hermantown) bunted Wikstrom into scoring position, and two hitters later she scored on a single by Leccia, tying the game.
 
Both teams went down in order in the seventh. In the eighth, the Yellowjackets had two runners in scoring position with one out, but Northwestern wiggled out of the jam. In the bottom of the inning, Northwestern strung three one-out singles together to bring home the winner of the 2-1 game.
 
The Yellowjackets had seven hits in the game, with Swartz leading the way, going 3-for-4. Macal added two hits.
 
Emma Pillion (Ottawa, Ill./Ottawa Township) got the start in the circle for the Yellowjackets and pitched five solid innings, allowing a run on six hits. Kraemer came on in relief and allowed a run in 2.1 innings on three hits. She struck out three and didn't walk a hitter, but she'll be tagged with the loss and fall to 13-5 on the year.
 
The Yellowjackets will travel to Morris, Minn. this weekend for the second of the UMAC Crossover events. They will take on Northland College in the first game of the weekend, Friday at 4 p.m.