Apr. 27—Wisconsin-Superior finished off the home portion of its softball schedule with three UMAC wins over the weekend against Crown.
It was a busy week at NBC Spartan Sports Complex that started with Northwestern taking two out of three games against the Yellowjackets on Wednesday and Thursday.
On Saturday, the Yellowjackets earned a doubleheader sweep over Crown, 9-0 and 13-3.
In the first game, pitcher Abby Mitchell pitched a five-inning three-hit shutout, while Larissa Snyder had an RBI triple and a two-run homer in a three-RBI game.
Game 2 featured homers and four-RBI games from Delaney Johnson and Kylie Zwak (Duluth East) in a 13-hit UWS attack.
Friday, UWS opened the series with a 14-5 home win in which MyKenzie Leccia drove in four runs and Snyder three. Both were among five UWS players that had two-hit games.
On Wednesday, the Yellowjackets split with Northwestern, losing the opener 4-1 and winning Game 2 5-4. Sophia Otto's three-run homer in the bottom of the fourth inning of Game 2 game UWS the lead again after Northwestern scored four in the top half of the inning to erase an early 2-0 UWS lead. In Game 1, UWS was being no-hit through six innings before breaking up the shutout on Johnson's RBI single with two out.
UWS (20-13, 10-5) finishes the regular season with a nonconference doubleheader at St. Scholastica on Wednesday, April 29 before a UMAC trip to Minnesota Morris on Friday and Saturday.
Wisconsin-Superior extended its win streak to eight games, six of them in UMAC play, with four wins over the weekend.
After defeating local rival St. Scholastica 11-3 on Wednesday at Wade Stadium, the Yellowjackets swept Crown in St. Bonifacius, Minnesota; 16-5 on Friday and 8-3 and 10-0 on Saturday. UWS completed its trip by winning 9-8 in 11 innings at Carleton on Sunday.
In Sunday's nonconference game in Northfield, Minnesota, Chase Oxborough's sacrifice fly in the top of the 11th proved to be the winning margin after UWS scored four times in the eighth to tie it up.
UWS got multiple hits from each of the top three slots in its order, including three RBIs from Owen Farrington.
Saturday, Tanner Voight had a three-run homer, a double and a sacrifice fly in support of a strong outing from starter Zach Romans, who allowed three runs (two earned) on five hits in 7 2/3 innings.
Josh Pritchard went the distance for UWS in Game 2, allowing five hits and a walk in seven shutout innings, striking out nine. Four Yellowjackets had two-hit games.
Friday, UWS piled up 13 hits and scored in six of eight possible innings. Five Yellowjackets had two hits apiece and the visitors benefitted from five Crown errors.
UWS (23-11, 12-3 UMAC) will host Minnesota Morris for two games on Saturday, May 2 and a third on Sunday, May 3 in a three-way tie with Bethany Lutheran and Northwestern for first place in the UMAC with UMM a game behind.
A pair of wins, 6-1 on Friday vs. Crown in Superior and 4-3 against Bethany Lutheran in Mankato on Saturday helped Wisconsin-Superior clinch a share of the UMAC's North Division men's tennis championship.
After UWS won all three doubles points, the Yellowjackets and Vikings came down to three three-setters. Bethany ended up winning two of them, but Vitor Sakakibara finished off a 7-6 (9-7), 5-7, 6-2 win for the decisive point.
UWS will open the UMAC tournament on Friday in Minneapolis.