MENOMONIE, Wis. – The Yellowjacket softball team is in the final week of the 2023 regular season. Before they close the regular season with a weekend doubleheader at Bethany Lutheran, the Yellowjackets had one more round of non-conference games, hitting the road to take on UW-Stout.
 
It was a tale of two games Thursday – one a pitcher's duel and the other a scoring fest, and in the end UW-Stout put an end to the Yellowjackets' four-game winning streak, taking game one 1-0 and outlasting the Yellowjackets in the second game to complete the sweep, 11-10 at Alumni Field in Menomonie.
 
The Yellowjackets will now enter the final weekend of regular season with a 26-9 overall record to go along with a 16-3 mark in Upper Midwest Athletic Conference (UMAC) play.
 
Game One
It was apparent early that Thursday's opener was going to be a tight one, with Yellowjacket starter Tayler Kraemer (Spring Green, Wis./Wisconsin Heights) and Stout pitcher Anna Blanford matching each other frame for scoreless frame.
 
Each team had scratched out just three hits as the scoreless tilt headed to the bottom of the fourth. Stout got a pair of hits, the big one being a two-out double from Meagan Murphy, bringing home a run to make it a 1-0 game.
 
The Yellowjackets weren't able to do much the rest of the way, getting just one hit, and the Blue Devils earned the 1-0 win.
 
Kraemer was solid in the circle for the Yellowjackets, allowing one run on seven hits. She walked two and struck out three.
 
The Yellowjackets mustered just four hits in the game, with Norah Schmitz (Waconia, Minn./Waconia) leading the way after going 2-for-2.
 
Game Two
Things got off to a rough start for the Yellowjackets in the second game, with the Blue Devils roughing up Yellowjacket starter Emma Pillion (Ottawa, Ill./Ottawa Township) for five runs in the bottom of the first.
 
Down five after two innings, Yellowjacket head coach Melissa Fracker went to the bullpen and brought in Samantha Swartz (Antigo, Wis./Antigo), but she didn't fare much better at first, allowing three runs in the bottom of the third. Stout added another run in the bottom of the fourth to move ahead 9-0.
 
That's when the Yellowjackets went to work.
 
The 'Jackets scored three times in the top of the fifth to stave off the run rule and keep the game alive.
 
Schmitz led off the inning with a walk and went to third on a Larissa Snyder (Blaine, Minn./Spring Lake Park) single. Kraemer followed with a single through the left side, scoring Schmitz with the first Yellowjacket run of the day. Jenna Hoops (Woodbury, Minn./Visitation School) would later come to the plate with the bases loaded and two outs, and the sophomore singled to center field, scoring two, and cutting the Stout lead to 9-3.
 
With two outs and two runners in scoring position in the top of the sixth, Kraemer picked up her second RBI of the game, singling through the left side to score MyKenzie Leccia (Somerset, Wis./Somerset) and make it a 9-4 game.
 
Stout got that run back in the bottom of the sixth, making it 10-4 and setting the stage for an epic Yellowjacket come back.
 
Ellie Macal (Winona, Minn./Cotter) led off the seventh with a single and Hoops followed with a walk. Pinch hitter Morgan Young (Blaine, Minn./Blaine) singled up the middle, and the 'Jackets had the bases loaded with nobody out. Stout changed pitchers and its reliever hit Bryton Kukowski (Duluth, Minn./Hermantown) with a pitch to bring home the first run of the inning. Schmitz was then hit by a pitch bringing in another run, and suddenly the 'Jackets were down 10-6 with the tying run coming to the plate.
 
Leccia singled to center field to score Young, and Snyder drew a walk to bring home another run and cut the deficit down to two runs, 10-8. Kraemer followed with another walk to pull the Yellowjackets to within a run, and Zoe Thomson (Le Sueur, Minn./Le Sueur-Henderson) brought them all the way back, plating a run with a ground out to make it 10-10.
 
All of that happened with nobody out, and following the groundout the Yellowjackets had two runners in scoring position with one out, but Stout worked out of the jam to keep the game tied.
 
The game headed for extra innings and neither team mounted a threat in the eighth. After the Yellowjackets went down quietly in the ninth, the table was set for the Blue Devils to win, literally in walk-off fashion. With the bases loaded, the Blue Devils coaxed a walk out of Kraemer to make the final score 11-10.
 
The Yellowjackets had 11 hits in the game, led by Kraemer who went 3-for-5. Snyder went 2-for-5 and Schmitz had another solid game, going 1-for-2 with a walk and two runs scored.
 
Pillion pitched the first two innings for the Yellowjackets and allowed seven runs in just over two innings. Swartz pitched four innings and gave up two runs on seven hits. Kraemer pitched the final 2.1 innings and allowed only the one run on two hits, but she'll be tagged with the loss. Her record on the year now stands at 16-8.
 
The Yellowjackets will close out the regular season with a doubleheader at Bethany Lutheran Saturday. The first pitch is scheduled for 1 p.m. at the BLC Softball Field.