Madison’s Trinity Kennemer swings at a pitch during the Night Mares’ series against the Minot Honeybees over the weekend at Corbett Field. Kennemer went 4-for-7 with two triples, a double and five runs scored in a doubleheader on Saturday, June 13. Mike Kraft/MDN

The Madison Night Mares had the Minot Honeybees’ number last season, and the trend continued through the first series of the 2026 campaign.

A day after nearly no-hitting the Honeybees, the Night Mares took both games of a doubleheader to complete a three-game series sweep on Saturday, June 13, at Corbett Field. Madison collected 18 hits in the opener en route to an 18-4 victory and took Game 2, 13-5, just an hour before the stroke of midnight. It was the only series between the two at Corbett Field this season.

With the series sweep, the Night Mares have now won 14 of their last 15 meetings with the Honeybees. Minot never led during the series, but kept it close through the first couple innings of both games on Saturday.

The Honeybees (1-4) didn’t wait until the final inning to record their first hit of the doubleheader. Sara Simon singled to lead off the second inning and scored on an RBI groundout off the bat of Clare Rettler. Jill Halas plated Alex Serbio with an RBI single to first base. The Honeybees recorded four hits in the inning to cut Madison’s lead down to 4-3.

After a scoreless third inning, the Night Mares pulled away by scoring 14 of the game’s final 15 runs across the final three innings, including six in the fourth and seven in the sixth.

Ava Carroll hit her second of two home runs in the opener, this one a two-run shot over the wall in left. Tele Jennings launched a two-run home run of her own later in the inning to push Madison’s lead to 8-3. Melania Luostari added a two-run single with two outs.

The Night Mares (4-0) recorded three doubles in the sixth, resulting in four runs. Madison took advantage of back-to-back errors by the Honeybees, scoring three runs as a result.

Hilary Blomberg and Gretta Grassel both finished with a game-high four hits. The two combined for four RBIs and five runs scored. Jennings and Carroll both recorded three RBIs. The Night Mares finished with 10 extra-base hits.

Simon led the Honeybees with a pair of hits. Rettler, Halas and Addison Galloway each had an RBI. Bridget Chapman had the lone Minot extra-base hit – a double in the fifth.

The nightcap followed a similar script, with the Honeybees keeping it close before Madison created some distance over the final few innings.

Minot fell behind 6-2 after three, but plated three runs in the bottom of the fourth to pull within a run. Simon gave the hometown crowd its biggest jolt with crushing a three-run home run over the fence in center, scoring Serbio and Chapman. Through five games, Simon is batting .500 with two home runs, a double, nine RBIs and five runs scored.

Prior to Simon’s blast, Rettler got the Honeybees offense going in the second inning, scoring a pair of runs on a two-run double to left.

But the Night Mares scored the final seven runs of the game over the last three innings to complete the sweep. Grassel led off the fifth with a solo home run to left and Mickayla Tosch tripled home Trinity Kennemer and Luostari later in the frame to extend Madison’s lead to 9-5.

Gassel collected her second RBI of the contest in the sixth on a groundout to first and her third with a double to left to bring in Carroll. Gassel would come around to score on the next at-bat when Jennings singled to center.

Carroll led the Night Mares with three hits, while both Grassel and Tosch registered three RBIs each. Eight Madison batters collected at least one hit.

Rettler, Chapman and Simon all recorded multi-hit games for the Honeybees.

The two teams won’t see each other again until July 2 in Madison for a three-game series. Up next for the Honeybees is a two-game series at La Crosse beginning on Monday, June 15 at 6:35 p.m.