SAINT JOSEPH, Minn. – After losing a day to inclement weather, the Yellowjacket softball team, and the rest of the teams in the 2023 Upper Midwest Athletic Conference (UMAC) softball tournament returned to action Saturday.
 
Of course, they had to shift venues in order to do it.
 
Rain continued to fall in Mankato Saturday, making top seed Bethany Lutheran's natural surface field unplayable. Saturday the games moved a couple hours north, to St. Joseph, Minn. and the home of the College of St. Benedict.
 
In the first game of the day, the Yellowjackets took on Bethany Lutheran in a battle of the UMAC's top two seeds. This one was a marathon, and the Yellowjackets came up just short, falling 8-7 in 10 innings, and relegating themselves to the portion of the bracket where losing is no longer an option. In their second game of the day the Yellowjackets bounced back, defeating Northwestern 7-1 to advance to the UMAC championship games.
 
The Yellowjackets (29-11) will get another crack at Bethany Lutheran Sunday, needing to win twice to capture the UMAC playoff championship.
 
Game One
Bethany Lutheran opened the door for the Yellowjackets to advance to the final in the first game of the day Saturday, but the Yellowjackets just couldn't get all the way through. Despite being outhit 16-8 in the game, the Yellowjackets had a chance to win the game on more than one occasion thanks to seven Bethany Lutheran errors. In the end, however, it was the Vikings taking the marathon barnburner.
 
The Yellowjackets scored first in the top of the second, when Tayler Kraemer (Spring Green, Wis./Wisconsin Heights) singled to right center to score MyKenzie Leccia (Somerset, Wis./Somerset) and make it 1-0.
 
Bethany Lutheran answered in the bottom of the inning, pounding out five hits and scoring four times to move in front 4-1.
 
In the top of the third the Yellowjackets took advantage of the Vikings' errors to tie the game. With two runners on, Larissa Snyder (Blaine, Minn./Spring Lake Park) reached on a bunt single, and then the errors allowed both runners and Snyder to come home to tie the game.
 
The Yellowjackets pulled back in front in the fourth when Kraemer scored on a fielder's choice, but Bethany Lutheran came back and tied it, 5-5, in the bottom of the fifth.
 
After a scoreless sixth the Yellowjackets took the lead again in the seventh, moving ahead 6-5 when Zoe Thomson (Le Sueur, Minn./Le Sueur-Henderson) drew a bases-loaded walk, scoring Leccia. Once again, however, the Vikings answered, getting the tying run on a two-out single in the bottom of the seventh.
 
Bethany Lutheran got a one-out triple in the bottom of the eighth, but the Yellowjackets were able to work out of the jam. In the top of the ninth it was the Yellowjackets' turn, loading the bases with two outs, but the rally stalled out.
 
The teams went scoreless in the ninth, and in the top of the 10th the Yellowjackets took a 7-6 lead when Snyder advanced to third on a flyout and scored on an error on the play. In the bottom of the inning, Bethany Lutheran got two runners in scoring position with one out and got a single up the middle that scored both runners, dealing the fatal blow to the Yellowjackets.
 
Leccia, Snyder and Ellie Macal (Winona, Minn./Cotter) each had two hits to lead the way for the Yellowjackets.
 
Kraemer went the distance in the circle, allowing eight earned runs on 16 hits in 9.1 innings. She walks two and struck out 10.
 
Game Two
With their backs against the wall and their season on the line, the Yellowjackets were determined not to let the second game of the day slip away, as they took on Northwestern for the second time in the tournament.
 
The Eagles advanced to this game via an 11-0 win over Crown, a contest that eliminated the Polars.
 
The Yellowjackets roughed up Northwestern early and often in this one. In the bottom of the first inning the Yellowjackets loaded the bases with nobody out and plated the first run of the game on a single by Thomson. Snyder brought in the second run on a sacrifice fly, and Samantha Swartz (Antigo, Wis./Antigo) made it 3-0 on a single to left.
 
In the second the Yellowjackets doubled their lead. Thomson singled down the right field line, scoring Kraemer with the fourth run of the game. Jenna Hoops (Woodbury, Minn./Visitation School) followed with a double to left center, scoring Thomson and Tiffany Kirk (McHenry, Ill./McHenry East) to make it 6-0.
 
Then, in the bottom of the fourth Hoops drove in another run, this time scoring Kraemer on a single to left to give the Yellowjackets a 7-0 lead.
 
Northwestern would break the shutout bid with a run in the top of the seventh, making the final 7-1.
 
The Yellowjackets had 11 hits in the game, with every starter getting at least one. Thomson and Hoops had two hits each. Thomson drove in two runs while Hoops drove in three.
 
Kraemer again went the distance in the circle, allowing one run on seven hits. She walked three and struck out four.
 
The focus now turns to the UMAC championship which will get underway Sunday at noon. The Yellowjackets and Bethany Lutheran will meet at the CSB Softball Complex, with the Yellowjackets needing a win to force a second game for the conference title.