Mike Kraft/MDN Madison’s Hilary Blomberg slides safely into home plate after Minot catcher Isabelle Anderson is unable to secure possession of the ball after applying the tag during the fifth inning of Game 1 of the best-of-three championship series at Corbett Field on Aug. 4.

The Night Mares continue to be a nightmare for the Minot Honeybees, whether it’s the regular season or the postseason.

For the 10th time in 11 meetings this year, the Honeybees found themselves on the wrong side of the scoreboard, this time with the stakes being at their highest. The Night Mares scored nine unanswered runs over the final five innings to hand Minot a 10-2 defeat in Game 1 of the best-of-five championship series at Corbett Field on Aug. 4.

“It was great that so many people turned out,” Minot coach Craig Montvidas said. “I wish we could have given them a better game. We were in it until the fourth inning and kind of let it slip away. Once the toothpaste is out of the tube, it’s hard to get it back in.”

The Honeybees will have to win a pair of games in Madison for them to capture their first Northwoods League title. Madison will need to win just one of the next two games to accomplish the same feat. The Night Mares have dropped just four games at home all season, one of which came against Minot.

Minot’s struggles this season have come in the opening frame, allowing opposing teams to get out to an early lead. However, the first inning was the only stanza where the Honeybees were able to keep the Night Mares off the board. Madison scored at least one run in the final six innings, capping the night with a three-run seventh.

“We clinched first place and knew we were going to the playoffs several weeks ago,” Madison coach Lexi Godwin said. “We’ve played an 11 or 12-game stretch where it didn’t matter if we won or lost because we knew we were the No. 1 seed. We just had to readjust our mindset.”

The Honeybees took a brief lead in the bottom of the second when Bella Cimino delivered a two-run home run to left field off Madison starting pitcher Karlie McKenzie. The long ball gave the crowd of 784 something to cheer about early. It was just the fourth home run McKenzie has allowed this season.

The Night Mares showed why they were the best team in the Northwoods League all season from there. They reclaimed the lead in the third when two runs came around to score on a fielder’s choice with the bases loaded. Isabela Emerling grounded a ball to Taylor Chillingworth at shortstop, who got the out at second. But Kisbel Vizcaya scored from third and Tia Durst scored from second to put Madison in front 3-2.

Madison added a run in the fourth and two more in the fifth to continue to build on its advantage. Trinity Kennemer scored on a wild pitch, Hilary Blomberg slid safely into home after Minot catcher Isabelle Anderson couldn’t keep possession of the ball while attempting to put the tag on her, and Danielle Lucey scored on a double steal with runners at the corner when Minot elected to throw down to second to throw out Gretta Grassel with less than two outs.

“The biggest difference was when we made a mistake, they capitalized and scored and they didn’t make many mistakes,” Montvidas said. “But we had runners on and a couple times with two outs we started a rally but couldn’t get over the hump.”

Blomberg delivered an RBI single in the sixth and the biggest hit of the night for the Night Mares came off the bat of Ava Carroll in the seventh, when she roped a two-run double to center to score Kennemer and Addison Blomberg.

“We started off a little bit slower than I was anticipating,” Godwin said. “All season we’ve had a pretty powerful offense. It took us a little while to get going and I didn’t feel like we had a big hit until the top of the seventh. We just find a way to make it work and that’s what we did tonight.”

Carroll led the Night Mares with a team-high three hits to go along with two RBIs and two runs scored. Tia Durst and Hilary Blomberg also had multi-hit games.

Cimino and Chillingworth accounted for four of Minot’s six hits.

“There was a lot of positive things, but it’s almost like you have to play pretty close to it against Madison,” Montvidas said. “But no excuses. We’re missing our best pitcher. We are missing our No. 3 hitter. We’re missing our two catchers. It’s tough. There’s not a whole lot you can do.”

McKenzie continued her undefeated season on the mound after finishing the regular season 10-0. She tossed a complete game, allowing two runs on six hits, striking out one and walking three.

Jackie Albrecht got the starting nod for the Honeybees and pitched into the seventh. She surrendered nine runs on 11 hits, striking out one and walking four. Cienna Clemens came into the game with two outs in the seventh to finish out the contest.

The series now shifts to Madison for Game 2 and Game 3 (if necessary). The Honeybees will be hosting an official watch party for both games at Buffalo Wild Wings for fans unable to make the trip to Madison.