Madison Secures Game One Victory in Wausau<\/b><\/p>\n
WAUSAU, WI. – The Madison Night Mares take game one of the 2026 Northwoods League Softball Championship, winning 3-1 in a gritty pitching duel. Wausau and Madison duel in the circle, with Wausau only scoring in the first inning and Madison scoring their three runs in the third.<\/span><\/p>\n How It Happened<\/b><\/p>\n Zoey Mills (Northwestern State) made the start for Wausau in game one. Despite walking two, Mills escaped the inning with a strikeout. Gracie Konkol (St. Thomas, MN) led off for the Ignite, finding a single. Riley Schwisow (Northwestern State) followed with a walk. Mia Johnson brought in Wausau\u2019s only run with an RBI single. Claire Calmes (UW-Madison) grounded into a fielder’s choice. The runners on the corners were stranded, ending the scoring effort.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n The second inning saw Wausau and Madison each take down the other’s batters, runless.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n In the third inning, Madison breeched Wausau with back-to-back singles from Dani Lucey (UW-Madison) and Kyra Smith (Colorado State). Ava Carroll (Washington) broke open the scoring for the Night Mares with a two-RBI double.\u00a0 Madison didn’t stop. Mickayla Tosch (Wichita State) found a single, and a Luci Moreno (Pitt) sac-fly brought home the third run for the Night Mares and the final run of the game. Mia Johnson secured a one-out single for the Ignite, but another Claire Calmes fielder’s choice and Wausau getting caught stealing ended the third.<\/span><\/p>\n Down 3-1, Wausau took Madison three up and three down in the fourth, fifth, and sixth innings. The Night Mares pretty much did the same, with the Ignite finding only a Quinn Marnocha double through the sixth inning.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n In the top of the seventh, Saylor Timmerman (Arkansas) entered her second inning of work. She struck out two and walked two but kept any runs from coming across. Marley Teasley led off the final push with a walk. Sydney Spear (Bradley) entered as a pinch hitter and found a single. With one out away, Gracie Konkol reached on an infield error. With the bases loaded, Wausau grounded into a double play, ending the game.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Stats and Facts<\/b><\/p>\n Coming Up Next<\/b><\/p>\n Game two of the 2026 Northwoods League Softball Championship is set for Wednesday, the fifth of April. First pitch will be at 6:05 from Warner Park in Madison, Wisconsin.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Fans can stay up to date with the Ignite by visiting ignitesoftball.com and watching games live on FloSports, with select contests also airing on the All Women’s Sports Network.<\/span><\/p>\n ###<\/span><\/p>\n Leveraging the 31-year success of the Northwoods League, the first for-profit summer collegiate baseball league, Northwoods League Softball is the first for-profit women’s summer collegiate softball league, beginning play in the Upper Midwest in 2024. The league’s purpose is to develop players for collegiate, Olympic and future professional competition. Teams are promoted similarly to minor league baseball clubs, playing games in front of fans in a fun, family-friendly environment.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Madison Secures Game One Victory in Wausau WAUSAU, WI. – The Madison Night Mares take game one of the 2026 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":20,"featured_media":36989,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[13,14],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-36988","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-team-news","category-update-ticker"],"yoast_head":"\n\n