MORRIS, Minn. – Friday, the Yellowjacket softball team entered play in the second round of the Upper Midwest Athletic Conference (UMAC) crossover, and the first game out of the chute might possibly have been the biggest game of the season.

Entering play Friday, the Yellowjackets were 12-2 in the UMAC and were a top five team in the nation in terms of batting average and run production, but they trailed Bethany Lutheran by two games in the loss column, making Friday's contest of utmost importance when looking at the upcoming coming UMAC tournament.
 
If the Yellowjackets were hoping to host the 2023 UMAC Tournament, their hopes were dealt a serious blow Friday, as they fell to the Vikings 4-0 at Holmberg Field in Morris.
 
With the loss, the Yellowjackets (22-7, 12-3 UMAC) now face an uphill battle in the fight for the UMAC regular season championship. The Yellowjackets still sit in second place in the conference, but they now trail the Vikings by 3.5 games in the conference standings.
 
Bethany Lutheran opened the scoring in the bottom of the first, plating a pair of runs.

From there neither team was able to generate much offensively. The Yellowjackets were able to put runners on base in each of the first three innings but were unable to push any runs across.
 
Bethany Lutheran pushed a single run across in the top of the fifth, and then did the same in the top of the seventh to push their lead to 4-0.
 
The Yellowjackets went down in order in the seventh, preserving the win for the Vikings.

The game featured arguably the two best pitchers in the UMAC, with the Vikings' Kayla Senne and the Yellowjackets' Tayler Kraemer (Spring Green, Wis./Wisconsin Heights) putting on a show for the ages. Senne got the win in this one, holding the Yellowjackets to just two hits on the day. Kraemer went the distance, allowing four runs on eight hits. She walked three and struck out two.
 
The Yellowjackets return to action Saturday when they play twice on the second day of the UMAC Crossover. The Yellowjackets will play Martin Luther at 10:00 a.m. and then will play Northland at 2 p.m.