Menominee Nation softball falls 13-3 at Iola-Scandinavia, drops fourth straight

Menominee Nation stayed close for three innings, then Iola-Scandinavia broke the game open with a pair of big rallies that turned a 3-2 deficit into a 13-3 conference loss Tuesday, May 5. The Eagles fell to 2-10 and absorbed a fourth straight defeat, a stretch that has started to define the season as much by what slips away late as by any early promise.

The turning point came after Menominee Nation had kept the Thunderbirds within reach. Iola-Scandinavia led 3-2 before scoring five runs in the fourth inning and five more in the sixth, a surge that ended any chance of a response and left the Eagles trying to recover from another one-sided finish. For Menominee Nation, that kind of inning-by-inning collapse points to a bigger problem than one bad night: the team has not been able to stop opponents once momentum shifts.

The Eagles did have a few offensive answers. Shaye Sanapaw went 2-for-3 with three RBIs, giving her first runs batted in of the season and providing one of the clearest individual bright spots of the game. Taylesia Pamonicutt also produced, finishing 2-for-3 with two runs and a double. Those line scores matter because they show Menominee Nation still has players capable of putting pressure on a defense, even in a loss that got away quickly after the midpoint.

But the 13-3 final also underscored the team’s current imbalance. Menominee Nation has now lost three straight on the road and four overall, and the latest result recalled a 10-0 defeat to Iola-Scandinavia in April 2024. That history makes the latest meeting less like an isolated setback and more like another sign that the Eagles need more consistency in the circle, cleaner defense behind their pitchers and more sustained run support from top to bottom.

Menominee Nation was scheduled to face Amherst at 4:30 p.m. Thursday, a matchup that offered a quick chance to reset. Until the Eagles can string together more than a few competitive innings, the season will keep coming down to whether their offense can keep pace long enough for the rest of the lineup to hold.