SUPERIOR, Wis. – After winning its home opener in mercy rule fashion Friday, the Yellowjacket softball team was back home Saturday, continuing a swing through the Upper Midwest Athletic Conference (UMAC) with North Central in town for the second and third games of their weekend series.

The Yellowjackets rode a big inning to a victory Friday, and there would be several more big innings when the dust settled Saturday.
 
Superior scored seven runs while batting around in the bottom of the third inning, on the way to defeating the Rams 10-1 in five innings in the opener. The production continued in the second game, as the Yellowjackets scored at least six runs in three different innings on the way to a 21-0 victory, to sweep the doubleheader and the weekend series.
 
Bella Garley (Albuquerque, N.M./Porter (Tex.)) had a big day at the plate for the Yellowjackets, going 4-for-6 with two runs scored and three driven in. She hit her first home run of the season in the second inning of the second game.
 
In the circle, Samantha Swartz (Antigo, Wis./Antigo) and Abby Mitchell (Cloquet, Minn./Carlton) were in control from the get-go. Swartz threw a complete-game six hitter in the opener to improve to 10-0 on the year. In the second game Mitchell allowed just one hit over four innings to advance her record to 3-1 on the year. It was her second victory of the weekend.
 
Game One Notes

• North Central plated an unearned run in the top of the first inning before the Yellowjackets answered in the bottom half of the inning. After Zoe Thomson (Le Sueur, Minn./Le Sueur-Henderson) singled to right Ellie Macal (Winona, Minn./Cotter) hit a long home run to left center, her third of the season to put the Yellowjackets up 2-1.
• In the second Karen Balabon (Elk River, Minn./Elk River) brought home Garley after knocking a single up the middle.
• The Yellowjackets did their damage in the bottom of the third, scoring six runs, all of them coming with two outs.
• Swartz brought home the first two runs of the third with a single to left.
• A bases-loaded wild pitch brought home another run before Peyton Bennett (Harrisburg, S.D./Harrisburg) plated two more with a single to right center.
• Lily Hanson (Cloquet, Minn./Esko) singled through the left side to score Bennett and then she would score the game's final run on a wild pitch.
• The Yellowjackets had 10 hits, led by Garley who went 2-for-3.
• Every starter had at least one hit.
• Bennett, Macal and Swartz all had two RBI.
• Swartz allowed one unearned run on six hits and struck out two.

Game Two Notes

• The Yellowjackets had 12 hits but put up 21 runs with the help of nine North Central errors to go along with five walks.
• After a scoreless first the Yellowjackets exploded for nine runs in the second.
• MyKenzie Leccia (Somerset, Wis./Somerset) got things started with a bunt single and a stolen base to move into scoring position. She came around to score on a fielder's choice.
• Two more came in when Balabon reached on an error.
• Hanson plated a run on a bunt single and scored on a ground out.
• Later in the inning with two on Garley pulled a ball down the line that the home plate umpire ruled was foul. After a conversation the call was overturned and Garley was awarded a three-run home run to make it 9-0.
• The Yellowjackets added six more runs in the third.
• Bennett brought home two runs with a double to right center.
• After two runs scored on errors, Leccia drove in a run with a double to right center.
• Emma Pillion (Ottawa, Ill./Ottawa Township) came up to pinch hit in the fourth and singled up the middle, scoring two more runs.
• Later in the inning Kyle Hochsprung tripled to the gap in right center, driving in three runs.
• Hochsprung scored the final run of the game when Sophia Otto (Mequon, Wis./Homestead) tripled down the line in left.
• Every healthy player on the Yellowjacket roster played in the game.
• Leccia and Garley had two hits each.
• Garley and Hochsprung led the way with three runs driven in apiece.
• Mitchell was dominant in the circle, recording nine of her 12 outs via the strikeout.
• Pillion pitched a perfect fifth and also struck out a hitter.

The Yellowjackets will be back home Wednesday when they open a three-game series with Minnesota Morris. The first pitch is scheduled for 3:30 p.m. at the NBC Spartan Sports Complex.
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