Mike Kraft/MDN Minot second baseman Chloe Cummings fields a ground ball in front of shortstop Taylor Chillingworth during the first game of a doubleheader against Mankato on July 24 at Corbett Field.

The Minot Honeybees had a golden opportunity to put a stranglehold on the final playoff spot with a doubleheader sweep of visiting Mankato (Minn.), effectively ending the Habaneros’ season in the process.

Instead, the Honeybees find themselves with little room for error heading into the final six games of the regular season after falling in both games of their twinbill with Mankato on July 24 at Corbett Field. The Habaneros scored late in each contest, winning Game 1, 6-3, before completing the sweep in Game 2 with an 11-8 victory to breathe new life into their postseason hopes.

“The mindset was to just play our game,” Mankato coach Justine Schultz said. “When we show up and play our game, we’re aggressive on the bases. We get people on and we get them over and we get them in and we did just that today.”

Had Minot come out victorious in both games and swept the 3-game home series, it would have been looking at a 4.5-game lead in the standings with just six games remaining, putting its magic number to clinch a playoff spot at just two. The Honeybees still find themselves in the driver’s seat, but by the slimmest of margins, claiming just a 1/2 game over Mankato. The two teams don’t meet again this season.

“We talked about how big these games are for us, so just coming into it, we had a stretch of games throughout the middle of the season that weren’t so great for us and we’ve been on the uphill since then,” Mankato’s Sailor Hall said. “Winning these shows the resiliency of our team. We’re missing one of our big pitchers this weekend and to have people step up in big moments has been huge for us.”

The difference came down to the final three innings of both games, where the Habaneros outscored the Honeybees 10-3. In the opener, the teams entered the fifth inning tied 3-3, but Mankato grabbed the lead on a sacrifice fly off the bat of Hall to plate Indigo Fish.

The Honeybees put runners on second and third with a single from Chloe Cummings and a double off the bat of Taylor Chillingworth in the sixth, but Mankato pitcher Emily Meyer got Makenna Alexander to fly out to center field to end the threat.

Minot coach Craig Montvidas didn’t chalk up the pair of losses to nerves despite the high stakes attached to the doubleheader.

“I think every single player on the team handles it differently,” Montvidas said. “Colectively as a team, I hope not.”

The Habaneros pushed across two more runs in the seventh with Hall again delivering a clutch at-bat. Hall singled home two with the bases loaded to complete a game-high 4-RBI night.

“The bottom line is we did more things wrong than we did right and credit to them,” Montvidas said. “They have the long bus trip home tonight, but it will be a much nicer bus ride than they previously thought.”

Minot’s Shayna Myshrall homered in the first inning for her ninth home run of the season, tying her for the league lead with Madison’s Hilary Blomberg.

In Game 2, the Honeybees carried a 5-4 advantage into the fifth inning, rallying from an early 4-0 hole after 1 1/2 innings. Taylor Chillingworth and Alexander produced two-run singles each on back-to-back at-bats to tie the game and Myshrall gave the Honeybees the lead thanks to a Mankato error.

But once again, the Habaneros controlled the final three innings, plating three runs in both the fifth and sixth innings and another in the seventh to come away with the sweep. Hall continued her hot night with the bat, as she singled home Joscelyn Bennett to tie the game. Marleigh Louvar followed with an RBI double to put Mankato in front and Hall would come around to score on a wild pitch.

“A big thing I talk about a lot is energy and momentum,” Schultz said. “I tell the girls that if we have great energy on the bench and we create momentum, that’s going to get good things going. I told them to stay calm, be present and get their pitch.”

Hall broke the game open in the sixth with a bases-clearing double with two outs as the Habaneros were finally able to get to Minot pitcher Julianna Verni, who had stymied Mankato throughout her appearances on the mound over the past week. Verni struck out 11 batters in six innings, but surrendered 10 runs on eight hits.

Hall finished the doubleheader 5-for-7 with a double, nine RBIs and a run scored. She had all but four of her team’s RBIs.

“I was just going out there telling myself to find strikes, have situational at-bats and figure out what I can do to help the game out, help my teammates out and score runners,” Hall said.

She also was the winning pitcher in Game 2, coming in as relief in the second inning and pitching 5 2/3 innings, allowing four runs on six hits, striking out three and walking two.

“To have her come in and have the outing that she did against a team we’ve played a lot, I owe her a lot of credit for the win today,” Schultz said.

Chloe Cummings, Trinity Gregg and Chillingworth all had two hits each for Minot in the nightcap.

The Honeybees don’t need Mankato’s help if they want to get into the postseason, but that would involve winning their final six games. Minot did have a six-game winning streak earlier in the season. The Honeybees will travel to Wausau (Wisc.) for a three-game series with the Ignite July 27, 28 and 29 before returning home to finish up the regular season with a three-game series with Madison starting July 31 and concluding the next day with a doubleheader.

Mankato, which also has had a six-game winning streak this season, needs at least one Minot loss to make the postseason. The Habaneros travel to Madison for a doubleheader July 27 before closing out the series on July 28. They return home for two games against La Crosse on July 30 and July 31 before going to La Crosse on Aug. 2 to close out the season.

“The stress will still be there because we have the No. 1 team in the league coming up, so that will be a hard one,” Hall said. “But having these two big wins against a team we’ve had trouble beating earlier in the year will give us some confidence going into Madison.”