MORRIS, Minn. – Friday afternoon, something rare happened to the Yellowjacket softball team.
 
Its offense was shut down.
 
The Yellowjackets entered the weekend as one of the top run-producing teams in the country, and was a top-five team in NCAA Division III in terms of batting average. Friday, however, Bethany Lutheran limited the Yellowjackets to just two hits, and kept them off the scoreboard, something that had happened just once this season.

Saturday the Yellowjackets looked to rebound and get the offense going again as they enter the stretch run in the Upper Midwest Athletic Conference (UMAC). The bats did come alive, but the Yellowjackets found themselves in a pair of dog fights at the UMAC Crossover in Morris.

The Yellowjackets needed extra innings to edge Martin Luther 8-6 in their first game of the day, then rode a monster first inning to a 13-8 win over Northland.
 
With the wins, the Yellowjackets now sit at 24-7 overall and 14-3 in UMAC play, with six games to play in their final week of the regular season.
 
Game One
The Yellowjackets were facing Martin Luther for the third time in 2023 Saturday morning. In the first two meetings, the Yellowjackets dispatched the Knights with relative ease, needing five innings in the first  meeting and sweeping the doubleheader in Stevens Point, Wis. by a combined scored of 20-6.
 
It was different this time around, however, as the Knights put a scare into the Yellowjackets, stretching the game to extra innings before the Yellowjackets ended it.
 
The Yellowjackets opened the scoring in the top of the first when Ellie Macal (Winona, Minn./Cotter), who earlier in the week drove in runs in four straight, singled through the left side to bring home Larissa Snyder (Blaine, Minn./Spring Lake Park) and Tayler Kraemer (Spring Green, Wis./Wisconsin Heights). The potential was there for the first inning to be much bigger for the Yellowjackets, but Martin Luther worked out of the jam.
 
In the second the Yellowjackets increased their lead. MyKenzie Leccia (Somerset, Wis./Somerset) and Snyder had back-to-back doubles producing the third Yellowjacket run, and two hitters later Thomson doubled to the gap in left center, making it a 4-0 game.
 
Martin Luther got on the board with a run in the bottom of the second, then added another in the bottom of the third to cut the Yellowjacket lead in half.
 
The Yellowjackets got one run back in the top of the fourth when Snyder scored on a bunt single by Kraemer.

But again, Martin Luther came back, scoring three runs in the bottom of the fifth to tie the game 5-5.
 
It stayed that way until Martin Luther put together a threat in the bottom of the seventh. With the winning run on third and nobody out, Kraemer got a strikeout, a fly out to right field and an infield popout to stall the upset bid and send the game to extra innings.
 
Norah Schmitz (Waconia, Minn./Waconia) led off the eighth with a single up the middle, and an infield single by Leccia put runners on the corners with nobody out. A passed ball put two runners in scoring position, and the Yellowjackets broke the tie on a groundout. Two hitters later Thomson came through again, singling up the middle to bring home Leccia and Kraemer, giving the 'Jackets an 8-5 lead.
 
Martin Luther wouldn't go away, however. In the bottom of the inning the Knights scored a run on a pair of extra-base hits, but one run was all they would get as the Yellowjackets held on for the win.
 
Emma Pillion (Ottawa, Ill./Ottawa Township) got the start in the circle and went 4.2 innings, allowing five runs (four earned) on eight hits. She walked two and struck out two before giving way to Kraemer who pitched the final 3.1 innings to get the win. Kraemer allowed a run on five hits with a walk and six strikeouts to improve to 14-6 on the year.
 
The Yellowjackets pounded out 15 hits in the game, with six players having at least two hits. Snyder scored three runs and Thomson drove in three to lead the offense.
 
Game Two
Determined not to let the second game of the day be as close as the first, the Yellowjackets got off to a huge start in the top of the first, sending 13 to the plate and scoring nine times.
 
With one on and one out, Thomson crushed a long home run to center field, getting the Yellowjackets on the board. Tiffany Kirk (McHenry, Ill./McHenry East) would single to right center, brining home the third run. Samanthan Swartz followed with an infield single, plating another run to make it 4-0. Later in the inning the big blow came, as Leccia hit a long home run to center field with the bases loaded, making it 8-0. Thomson would pick up her third RBI of the inning on a ground out and giving the 'Jackets their ninth run.
 
Northland would start to chip away in the bottom of the inning, scoring twice. The LumberJills would add five more in the bottom of the third, and just like that the Yellowjacket lead was almost gone as Northland trimmed it to 9-7.
 
Jenna Hoops (Woodbury, Minn./Visitation School) got one of those runs back, scoring Thomson with a two-out double in the top of the fourth. Snyder then brought home Swartz with a single in the top of the fifth, making it 11-7.
 
Northland would score a single run in the bottom of the fifth, and it stayed 11-8 until the seventh, when the Yellowjackets got some insurance.
 
This time it was Snyder going deep, homering to right center to make it a 13-8 game.
 
Northland wasn't able to mount a threat in the seventh, and the Yellowjackets earned the sweep for the day.
 
Kraemer went the distance in the circle to get her second win of the day and 15th on the year. She allowed eight runs (seven earned) on 15 hits. She walked two and struck out nine.
 
For the second game in a row the Yellowjackets had 15 hits, led by Snyder who went 4-for-5, scored three times and drove in three. Thomson also had three runs batted in.
 
The Yellowjackets will be back home Tuesday when they host Northland in a doubleheader. The first pitch is scheduled for 1:30 p.m. at the NBC Spartan Sports Complex.