Minot’s Cayden Thomas swings at a pitch during the opening game of a doubleheader against Wausau on Saturday, June 20, at Corbett Field. Mike Kraft/MDN

Minot Honeybees coach Kendall Winn trusted Sarah Misner to deliver in a big moment, inserting the Minot State incoming junior into the lineup to pinch hit with the bases loaded trailing by three runs in the bottom of the fourth.

Winn’s strategy paid off, as Misner came through with a triple to right that would clear the bases and pull the Honeybees even with visiting Wausau before Misner would come around to score to give Minot a lead it would hold onto down the stretch, leading to a 7-6 victory over the Ignite in the second game of a doubleheader on Saturday, June 20, at Corbett Field. Wausau took the opener, 11-7, and withstood a furious late-game comeback attempt in Sunday’s matinee, 9-7, to take two of three games over the weekend.

Prior to Saturday’s Game 2 victory, the Honeybees had yet to record a win against Wausau in three chances. The Honeybees let one slip away in their road series finale on Thursday, June 18, when the Honeybees surrendered four runs in the bottom of the seventh to lose in walkoff fashion. In Saturday’s opener, Minot gave up nine runs over the final four innings after taking an early three-run lead.

The Honeybees (4-8) wouldn’t be denied this time around despite falling behind 4-1 midway through the fourth inning. Ava Arenz gave the Ignite their first lead of the contest with an RBI single to left, scoring Morgan Smith from second. Taylor Liebelt, who homered to leadoff the third inning, registered two more RBIs on the day with a triple.

Minot responded for six runs in the bottom half of the frame to grab the lead. Addison Galloway got the offense going with an RBI single to center to bring in Bridget Chapman. After Reagan Winn singled to load the bases, Kendall Winn opted to have Misner pinch hit for Jill Halas. Misner sent a 2-0 pitch into right field, allowing Galloway, Winn and Sara Simon all to come around to score. Cayden Thomas and Clare Rettler followed with back-to-back RBI singles to give Minot a 7-4 lead.

As the Honeybees have learned throughout their matchups with the Ignite, the game was far from over, as Wausau led off the fifth with a solo home run off the bat of Marley Teasley to cut Minot’s lead down to two.

The Ignite (5-6) again threatened in the seventh, as Megan McGinnis doubled to lead off the frame and scored on a two-out single from Brynn Daniel to pull within a run. But Parker Rowden finished what she started in the circle and got Smith swinging to end the game, giving her the complete-game victory. Rowden stuck out six for her second win of the season.

Chapman and Thomas both had a pair of hits and an RBI for the Honeybees, who finished with nine hits total. The Ignite compiled 10 hits, two each from Liebelt and Smith.

The Ignite scored three runs with two outs in the nightcap, but that proved not to be a difference-maker in the end result. It was, however, a major factor in the opener, as Wausau’s final 10 runs all came with two outs.

After Chapman knotted the game 2-2 with a two-run home run to left in the first inning, Rettler put the Honeybees in front in the second with a three-run shot to right.

It was all Wausau from there. With two outs and runners on first and second, the Ignite plated three to tie the game. Teasley doubled home two and McGinnis delivered an RBI single.

“That’s something that might have been missing from us the last couple of weeks and I think that this last week we’ve been really putting it together with our two-out hits,” Wausau coach Jasmin Estrada said. “It ruins their momentum a little bit, especially on the offensive side of things. That’s all you can ask for from the girls is to keep pushing at the plate and that’s exactly what they’ve been doing. The two outs have been really clutch for us so far.”

The two-out runs were just beginning, as the Ignite came back for four more in the ensuing inning. Despite the Honeybees recording outs against two of the first three batters of the inning, Wausau strung together four consecutive hits. Teasley cleared the bases with a three-run triple to right and came around to score on a single from McGinnis.

“It’s so frustrating because I feel like they constantly get lucky and find those little gaps and after reflecting, it’s got to be that we’re leaving those change-ups too high and at the same time you can’t control that,” Winn said. “You can control how we respond at the plate and we’re not taking advantage of stuff like that.”

Smith added to the two-out production, sending a 1-0 pitch over the fence in left for a two-run home run in the sixth.

The victory was Wausau’s third in a row after starting the season 1-5.

“At the beginning, it was kind of a bit of a rough start because we have such a young team, but as we keep going on, they keep gelling together as a lineup and we’re just going to keep rolling with the momentum,” Estrada said.

The Honeybees finished with nine hits, three of them coming via the long ball. Reagan Winn delivered Minot’s third home run of the game for her first of the season. While it was her first in a Honeybees uniform, it’s far from the first one that her older sister has witnessed in person.

“I’ve seen her hit a lot, so I was really happy that she’s getting it back,” Kendall Winn said. “Reagan is a really good defensive player and that’s why we keep her in, but she’s definitely been struggling at the plate a little bit, but recently she’s been getting it back, so I’m really happy to see it.”

Reagan Winn has recorded a hit in each of the last four games after going hitless in four consecutive contests leading up to the series against the Ignite.

The Honeybees nearly pulled off an improbable comeback on Sunday, scoring seven runs over the final two innings, but coming up just a couple runs short after digging too deep a hole to climb out of. Minot trailed 9-0 and had been held to only two hits entering the bottom of the sixth inning before rediscovering its offense from the prior day.

Minot compiled eight hits in the sixth and seventh innings, putting up five runs in the sixth and two more in the seventh. Chapman led off the sixth with a single and Simon followed with a double before Olivia Hernandez crushed a three-run home run over the fence in center to get the Honeybees on the board. Winn kept her hit streak going with a two-run homer later in the inning to pull Minot to within 9-5.

“They’re very scrappy,” Kendall Winn said. “They never give up. It’s just a matter of putting it together defensively and getting it to where we can score those runs and not have to be sweating trying to make the plays.”

The Honeybees kept the Ignite off the scoreboard in the top half of the seventh, just the second time in the contest that the Ignite didn’t score at least a run in an inning. Minot batted through the order in the sixth, putting Chapman in the leadoff position once again in the seventh. She tripled for her second hit of the game. Simon beat out an infield hit to third, putting runners on the corners. Hernandez scored Chapman with a sac fly and Misner plated Ellen Tarjan with a double to center to close the deficit to two, but Wausau pitcher Maya Rudy got Sophia Brennan to pop out to catcher Mia Johnon in foul territory to end the game.

Johnson gave the Ignite a 2-0 lead in the opening inning with a double to right, scoring Liebelt and Teasley. McGinnis delivered an RBI single in the second and Teasley did the same in the fourth.

“Our girls have been doing a really good job of staying consistent at the plate,” Estrada said. “I definitely feel like we’re riding with the momentum and that’s what we continue to do.”

Wausau added four more in the fifth and Brynn Daniel hit a solo shot in the sixth.

Alex Serbio, Chapman and Simon had two hits apiece for the Honeybees. Hernandez finished with a game-high four RBIs.

The Honeybees complete their four-game home series with the Ignite on Monday, June 22, at Corbett Field at 6:35 p.m.