UP, UP & GONE — Martin County West slugger Emily Dunlop (left) and Jackson County Central catcher Molly Turner watch Dunlop’s towering leadoff home run in the top of the fifth inning of Game 2 of Saturday’s nonconference softball doubleheader at the Fox Lake Sports Complex in Welcome. (Photo by Greg Abel)

WELCOME — Ivy Kokoruda walked and eventually scored Martin County West’s initial run of Game 1 of Saturday’s softball doubleheader on a wild pitch in the bottom of the first inning.

Miah Olson then utilized her Mercurial speed to leg out the Mavericks’ first hit of the season with two out in the bottom of the second inning at Fox Lake Sports Complex in Welcome.

Martin County West’s batting order then opened the offensive floodgates to generate 21 runs on 21 hits to split a nonconference twinbill with the Jackson County Central Huskies on Saturday.

Thea Anderson singled and eventually scored the game-winning run on Lina Arnold’s two-out RBI double in the last of the seventh inning to pace the Mavericks’ 13-12 comeback Game 1 victory.

Alana Freking then capped Game 2 with a suicide squeeze bunt in the bottom of the sixth after smacking a two-run single in the first frame. Freking’s three-RBI effort helped JCC outslug MCW, 11-8, to halve the pair of high-scoring contests.

“After getting a no-hitter thrown at us by (St. James Area ace Addie) Bowers in our season-opener on Friday, I thought the girls did a nice job of bouncing back to make solid contact at the plate throughout the doubleheader today,” said MCW head coach Darrell Ziegler. “Like just about everyone else, we’re young and inexperienced at the varsity level, but we’ll figure out with each game.”

Trailing 6-5 in the opener, Thea Anderson drilled a bad-hop leadoff triple to set the table for the Mavericks’ six-run outburst in the bottom of the fifth. Kelly Bettin followed with an RBI single before Arnold and Kokoruda walked to load the bases.

Emily Dunlop, who went 4-for-6 with a HR and five runs scored on the doubleheader, legged out an RBI infield hit to third to give MCW a 7-6 lead.

Kiley Bettin, who went 4-for-9 in the twinbill, lined a single to left to produce half of her four RBIs on the afternoon before Emily Anderson walked. Hailee Schuett then smacked a towering two-run blast off the center-field fence to swing an 11-6 lead to the Mavericks.

Arnold reached on an error in the sixth and scored on Kiley Bettin’s RBI single to widen MCW’s margin to 12-7 at that juncture. JCC, however, combined singles from Alexis O’Reilly, Morgan Preuss and Maia Reed with three Maverick errors in the top of the seventh to generate five runs to knot the score.

Thea Anderson, however, snapped the deadlock by singling with one out in the last of the seventh, stole second and scampered home with the game-winning run on Arnold’s RBI drive to the left-center gap.

Freking’s two-run single in the first inning and Lauren Johnson’s two-run hit in the third staked the Huskies to an 8-3 in Game 2. The Mavericks plated three runs in the top of the second. Thea Anderson scored when Olson’s grounder was mishandled before Taylor Elliott — who had walked — and Olson executed a double steal for another run. Olson then crossed the plate on Arnold’s RBI double.

Dunlop hammered a solo home run in the fifth before Emily Anderson, Kiley Bettin and Thea Anderson singled consecutively. Emily Anderson later scored on Elliott’s RBI groundout to trim MCW’s gap to 9-5.

Arnold singled, Dunlop walked and Schuett then produced half of her four RBIs on the doubleheader with a single in the top of the Mavericks’ sixth. Kiley Bettin’s RBI single later inched MCW within 9-8, but back-to-back hits by O’Reilly and Grace Schoenrock in JCC’s bottom of the sixth led to two insurance runs via Molly Turner’s RBI groundout and Freking’s sacrifice bunt.

Arnold went 4-for-8 with two doubles, three RBIs and two runs scored for MCW.

Martin County West (1-2) hosts Lake Crystal-Wellcome Memorial at 4:30 p.m. Tuesday in Welcome, while JCC (1-1) hosts Windom Area in a 4 p.m. doubleheader on Thursday.

(Game 1)

JCC 301 210 5 — 12 13 4

MCW 103 161 1 — 13 11 5

Winning run scored with two out in the bottom of the seventh.

Lina Arnold, Kelly Bettin (5, WP) and Ivy Kokoruda. Maia Reed, Grace Schoenrock (3, LP) and Molly Turner.

LOB–MCW 13; JCC 6. 2B–Lina Arnold (MCW), Maia Reed (JCC). 3B–Thea Anderson (MCW), Alexis O’Reilly (JCC). SAC–Ivy Kokoruda (MCW).

(Teams flipped in Game 2)

MCW 030 023 0 — 8 10 5

JCC 422 102 x — 11 8 2

Emily Anderson (LP), Lina Arnold (3), Kelly Bettin (6) and Ivy Kokoruda. Maia Reed, Grace Schoenrock (2, WP) and Molly Turner.

LOB–MCW 8; JCC 4. 2B–Lina Arnold (MCW). HR–Emily Dunlop (MCW). SAC–Alana Freking (JCC).