Madison Night Mares

×

Expand

courtesy Madison Night Mares

The logo for the Madison Night Mares depicts a flying horse.

The second season for the Madison Night Mares has been a wildly successful one, with the team finishing the season at 35-7 after a season-ending doubleheader at Minot on Aug. 1. Individual stars abound as well, with four players batting over .400 (Badgers catcher Hilary Blomberg also led the league in home runs and tied for the RBI) and Karlie McKenzie leading the league lead with a 10-0 record and 1.86 ERA. They entered the Northwoods League softball postseason as the top seed, and also defeated Minot in the first game of the championship series on Aug. 4. They can win it all at the Duck Pond on Aug. 6.

media release: The Madison Night Mares defeated the Minot Honeybees 10-2 in Game 1 of the first-ever Northwoods League Softball Championship Series on Monday night to take a 1-0 lead in the best-of-three series. 

The Night Mares scored the first run of the series, with Trinity Kennemer (Metropolitan State University of Denver) driving in Isabela Emerling (University of Oklahoma) on a sacrifice fly to make it 1-0. The Honeybees responded quickly in the bottom half, as Bella Cimino (University of North Florida) launched a two-run home run to give Minot the lead. 

In the third inning, Kisbel Vizcaya (Mid-American Christian University) and Tia Durst (University of Washington) each scored on a fielder’s choice to put Madison back in front. The Night Mares added on in the fourth, as Kennemer crossed the plate on a wild pitch.

The Night Mares began to pull away in the fifth, as Hilary Blomberg (University of Wisconsin) came home on an error to make it 5-2. Moments later, Danielle Lucey (University of Wisconsin) swiped home to widen the gap. In the sixth, Blomberg kept the offense rolling with an RBI single, pushing the score to 7-2.

The Night Mares put the game out of reach in the seventh inning. Ava Carroll (University of Washington) drove in two with a double to make it 9-2, then scored on a wild pitch to cap the night at 10-2.

Karlie McKenzie (Eastern Illinois University), who was named Northwoods League Softball Pitcher of the Year earlier in the day, went all seven innings in the circle for the Night Mares and earned the win. Jackie Albrecht (University of North Dakota) was charged with the loss for the Honeybees.

With the victory, the Night Mares are on the verge of the first championship in franchise history. Madison will have the opportunity to win the title on Wednesday night at Warner Park. First pitch for Game 2 of the series is scheduled for 6:05 p.m.