They simply couldn’t hit her. One night after the Minot Honeybees suffered a run-rule defeat to the Wausau Ignite, Jackie Albrecht got the revenge. She spun the franchise’s first ever no-hitter in a 6-1 win to extend the Honeybees’ second-place lead over the Mankato Habaneros.

Before Albrecht could start her historic night, she was getting support from the Minot offense. An RBI sacrifice fly by Virginia Mambelli scored the first run and a Taylor Chillingworth base hit brought in the second. Up 2-0, Albrecht walked two but also struck out two in the bottom of the first inning to get started.

The Bees were back on the bats in the second inning, getting run-scoring hits from Carly Cummings and Trinity Gregg to take a commanding 4-0 lead early in the contest.

Although walks were prevalent, clutch hits weren’t for the Ignite. Against Albrecht, Wausau drew seven walks over seven innings and left eight on base. Despite no hits for the game, the Ignite did score once. A leadoff walk was followed by a strike out and then an error committed by Albrecht. The rally continued on a play ruled as a fielder’s choice.

Valerie Osthoff laid down a bunt to first base which Virginia Mambelli picked up. Instead of touching any base or throwing the ball, Mambelli charged Riley Schwisow back to third base, preventing a run for the time being. With the bases loaded, a ground ball off the bat of Mia Johnson was thrown to first base for an out and scored Wausau’s first run.

The Honeybees had a 4-1 lead after four innings and would wait until the seventh inning to score again. With two more runs of insurance, Albrecht went back to the circle to finish the no-hitter. Another two walks would make things difficult, but two strikeouts guided Albrecht to the finish line. A groundout to first base ended the game and Albrecht was finally able to celebrate.

Along with Minot’s win, the third-place Mankato Habaneros suffered another loss to the Madison Night Mares, going 0-3 in the two-day series. The Honeybees’ 20-18 record is exactly two games better than Mankato’s 18-20 mark. Minot will play the rubber match of the series against Wausau tomorrow night before coming back home in the hopes of locking up a spot in the postseason against the Night Mares on Thursday and Friday this week.

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