Mike Kraft/MDN Minot’s Taylor Chillingworth doubles in the fourth inning of a game against Mankato on Wednesday at Corbett Field.

The last time the Minot Honeybees took the field against Mankato (Minn.), they lost despite outscoring their opponent.

That may read like a riddle, but due to a Northwoods League rules violation, what appeared to be a crucial win in the push toward earning the final playoff spot mutated into the biggest of gut-wrenching losses.

Honeybees coach Craig Montvidas took full responsibility for the oversight and his team had his back when they returned to the field Wednesday, overwhelming Mankato with a 10-0 victory in five innings at Corbett Field. With the victory, the Honeybees moved 2.5 games in front of the Habaneros for the final playoff spot with eight games remaining in the regular season.

“I just said to the girls, ‘Thank you, that makes me feel a lot better than 24 hours ago when we got the message,'” Montvidas said. “That was an oversight, a mistake. I owned up to it because I’m responsible for those types of things. …Luckily the girls got me off the hook today and that was an impressive win.”

Minot (19-15) lost a half-game lead on the Habaneros as a result of the infraction, which took place over a two-day stretch during its road series with Mankato on Sunday and Monday. Julianna Verni pitched the series-opener on Sunday, tossing a complete game in a 7-2 victory in which she threw 91 pitches. She was back on the mound the following day for the second game of Monday’s doubleheader, where she again tossed seven innings in what was at the time an 11-4 victory. In that game, Verni’s pitch count totaled 131, putting her two-day total at 222.

The Northwoods League has two rules when it comes to pitch counts. The first rule is that no pitcher can begin a new inning after amassing 150 pitches in a single game. They are allowed to finish the inning if they exceed that number, but can’t return for the next inning. The Honeybees were in accordance with that rule, but violated the second rule, which states that a pitcher cannot exceed 200 pitches when pitching in consecutive days or consecutive games. Verni finished the sixth inning of her second game with a two-day total of 203 pitches, but returned for the seventh inning, where she tossed another 19 pitches. Montvidas said he had been told that in the case of a doubleheader, the first game would serve as both a game in between and a day in between, meaning Verni’s pitch counter would be reset back to zero when she pitched the second game of the doubleheader.

The president of the league heard his side of the argument, but opted not to reinstate Minot’s victory and upheld the ruling. The Honeybees did avoid a fine.

“We’re all here for Coach Montvidas,” Minot’s Cadey Shipman said. “It was his mistake, but as a team we’re all going to take fault for it because we should have been on it and known the rules, but we just took back another win so it doesn’t really matter.”

According to the Northwoods League, if a winning team is found to be in violation of either of the pitch count rules, the win is removed from their record and replaced with a loss in the standings. But unlike a traditional forfeit, Mankato is not awarded the victory, but instead has the loss erased from its record. Therefore, Mankato will finish the season having played one fewer game than the rest of the league.

“It’s just little things that you don’t think of when you’re going at it and winning, so it was about coming back and making sure we had each other’s backs and the coaches’ backs,” Minot’s Bella Cimino said. “We wanted to come out and show that we deserved that win and we needed to put another win on the board.”

There was clearly no lingering effect from the past 48 hours, as the Honeybees put up 13 hits – including two home runs – and Verni and Jackie Albrecht combined to toss a one-hitter. Cimino got the offense going early, registering an RBI single to score Trinity Gregg in the first inning for a 1-0 lead. Cimino would bookend Minot’s offensive production, blasting a solo home run in the fifth to enforce the mercy rule and send the fans home early. Cimino finished 2-for-3 with three RBIs and a run scored. She was one of five Honeybees to record two hits.

“One of our problems has been giving up runs in the first inning, so it was nice to play with a lead for a change,” Montvidas said. “We got some infield hits, put the ball in the right spot, got a little bit lucky there and then you get a good hit and score multiple runs.”

Shipman was another one of those five and launched the other long ball of the contest – a solo shot to left in the second inning. The Minot native has three home runs in 16 games this season and was playing softball for the Sentinels just a few months ago.

“It always feels good when you’re fresh out of high school hitting bombs against college pitchers,” Shipman said.

Mother Nature gave the Honeybees an assist in the third, opening the skies and making life difficult for the Mankato pitching staff. Leading 3-0 with two outs and a runner on first, the Honeybees put the next five batters on base without having to swing the bat as the Habaneros struggled to get any grip on the wet softball. Carly Cummings and Gregg walked to load the bases and then Virginia Mambelli was hit by a pitch and Shayna Myshrall drew another walk for a 5-0 lead.

The Habaneros (16-17) made a pitching change, relieving Sailor Hall for Emily Meyer, but Meyer issued a bases-loaded walk to Cimino and Chloe Cummings followed with a two-run single to balloon the lead to 9-0.

“We know Mankato is breathing down our necks, so we knew we had to come out here and really get it done when we’re playing against them,” Cimino said. “We really got the longer stick there and they got the short end when it was raining during the third inning. We didn’t have to go out there in the rain, so we took advantage of that whether it was pretty or not, but we got it done and made sure to finish it off.”

Adding salt to the wounds for Mankato was that the rain let up the moment the Honeybees took the field to begin the fourth.

“To be truthful, I thought (Mankato) got the short end of the stick when it started raining,” Montvidas said. “The umpire should have stopped the game right there and waited because they’re out in the rain the whole time and the pitcher’s struggling with every pitch and then the inning ends and the sun comes out. I would not have been happy if I were in their shoes.”

The Habaneros’ lone hit came off the bat of Hall – a single in the second inning. Mankato had just three base runners the rest of the game, all via walks.

Verni picked up her ninth win of the season, but came nowhere near the pitch limit, tossing just 52 pitches in three innings of work.

Minot and Mankato meet for the final two times on Thursday in a doubleheader beginning at 3:05 p.m. at Corbett Field.

“I’m not the logistical person, so I don’t know how many games it comes down to, but I just know in my mind and all of our minds that every single inning, every single pitch we’re fighting to get to the playoffs and make the season count,” Shipman said.