SUPERIOR, Wis. – As mild as the weather was this winter, it hasn't carried over to spring. Precipitation has ruled the day this spring, and as a result, spring sports teams have been forced to be nimble, rescheduling games regularly, and sometimes having to reschedule a game multiple times.
 
The Yellowjackets were supposed to get their weekend series against Northwestern underway Friday, but rainy weather meant that game would be postponed. Instead, the Yellowjackets and the Eagles would open their series Saturday, playing a doubleheader before closing things out with a single game next week.
 
Saturday things might have been cloudy, cool, and a big soggy, but the teams were able to get two games under their belts. The Yellowjackets came from behind to win the opener, 6-5, before falling in the second game 9-1 in six innings at the NBC Spartan Sports Complex.
 
The games had playoff implications, and after play Saturday, the Yellowjackets (21-11, 10-4 UMAC) sit as the No. 3 seed, one game ahead of Northwestern, meaning the third game of the series looms very large for playoff seeding.
 
In the opener the Yellowjackets fell behind 4-1 early before rallying in the later innings. The big blows came in the bottom of the fifth when Ellie Macal (Winona, Minn./Cotter) and Indigo Fish (Superior, Wis./Superior Senior) hit back-to-back home runs.
 
Samantha Swartz (Antigo, Wis./Antigo) got the start in the circle and went 3.2 innings before giving way to Emma Pillion (Ottawa, Ill./Ottawa Township), who pitched two-thirds of an inning and earned the win. Bella Garley (Albuquerque, N.M./Porter (Tex.)) got the save.
 
Northwestern jumped on the Yellowjackets early in the second game and finished it off in six innings. Garley started and in the circle and took the loss.
 
Game One Notes

• Northwestern scored twice in the top of the first inning to take the early lead. The Yellowjackets had chances in the bottom of the inning but were unable to break through.
• Fish homered in the bottom of the second inning to cut the Northwestern lead in half.
• Trailing 4-1, the Yellowjackets mounted a comeback in the bottom of the fourth.
• Baylee O'Donnell (Mendota Hights, Minn./Richfield) singled up the middle to score Macal to make it a 4-2 game.
• Carly Stuckmayer (Delano, Minn./Delano Senior) followed with a two-run single up the middle, scoring Swartz and MyKenzie Leccia (Somerset, Wis./Somerset) to tie the game.
• Macal and Fish hit consecutive home runs with one out in the fifth to give the Yellowjackets their first lead of the game, 6-5.
• The Yellowjackets had 11 hits in the game, led by Stuckmayer, Macal and Fish who had two apiece.
• Pillion improved to 5-3 on the year with the win.
• Garley picked up her first save of the season.

Game Two Notes

• Northwestern again jumped on the Yellowjackets early, this time plating six in the top of the first to chase Garley from the circle. The big blow came from Gabrielle Keith, who hit a three-run home run.
• The Yellowjackets scored their only run of the game in the bottom of the fourth when Swartz scored after Jess Jacobson reached on an error.
• Northwestern scored two more runs in the top of the sixth.
• Stuckmayer, Leccia, Swartz and Zoe Thomson (Le Sueur, Minn./Le Sueur-Henderson) had the hits for the Yellowjackets.
• Garley lasted just two-thirds of an inning and took the loss, falling to 8-6 on the year.
• Swartz pitched a third of an inning.
• Georgia Youngblood (Ray, Mich./Lutheran North) pitched four innings, allowing two runs on four hits.
• Baylee O'Donnell (Mendota Hights, Minn./Richfield) pitched the last inning.

The Yellowjackets and Northwestern will close out their series either Tuesday or Wednesday of this week at a time to be determined.
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