Set up to be a massive late-season series between the Minot Honeybees and Mankato Habaneros, the three-game set brought about more questions than it answered as to the playoff race. On Thursday evening, it was the visiting Habaneros who claimed two victories and took the series from Minot.

 

In game one, a two-run top of the first for Mankato was brushed aside by a two-run home run by Shayna Myshrall for Minot. The 2-2 score would hold through the third inning.

 

Mankato was back on the board in the fourth with an RBI single. The one-run lead for the Habaneros would go away quickly as Isabelle Anderson plated a run on an RBI single of her own. The following inning, Mankato found another score, and this one they would hold.

 

Habaneros’ starter Emily Meyer pitched a complete game in her first Northwoods League start, allowing three runs on eleven hits while striking out four. Meyer kept the Bees quiet in the final three innings, and Mankato evened up the series with a 6-3 win.

 

Later in the day, it was Habaneros striking for early offense again. Two runs in the first and another two in the second marched Mankato out to a 4-0 lead early. With their pitcher, Julianna Verni, facing adversity, Minot helped her out at the plate. In the bottom of the second, the Bees scored four runs on three hits to tie the game.

 

Verni turned into a new pitcher from that point, retiring six of the next seven batters she faced. An error put Minot ahead after three innings, 5-4, but the lead would only hold for so long.

 

In the fifth, help for the Habaneros was on the way. Back-to-back run scoring hits by Sailor Hall and Marleigh Louvar flipped the script. Another three runs would score in the sixth on a bases-clearing double by Hall.

 

The Honeybees were running out time and down 10-5 in the bottom of the sixth. Magically, they would score three runs of their own, but the rally was shut down by Hall in the circle in the seventh. A 1-2-3 inning put an abrupt end to an entertaining game. The Habaneros won 11-8 to take the series and shake up the standings a bit.

 

Minot hits the road for Wausau a half-game up on the Habaneros for second place and the final postseason spot. The Honeybees need to take care of business against the Wausau Ignite Sunday through Tuesday to stay in the running for a Championship Series ticket.