In the softball game, the home team jumped out to a seven-run lead in the first inning and held the Yellowjackets scoreless. Rylee Fletcher got Tupper Lake rolling when she beat the throw to first after a short hit. As the ball rolled past Madrid’s first baseman, Fletcher continued on to second. She then stole third and eventually came home on a wild pitch that got past the Yellowjackets’ catcher.

As Tupper racked up six more runs, Madrid-Waddington made a pitching change that did little to stem the flow of Lumberjack scores and the home team got out of the inning with a 7-0 lead.

The Yellowjackets quickly recovered though, and tied the game at 8-8 in the third inning. The visitors put a couple of runners over home plate in the top of the fifth to take the lead, but Tupper Lake rallied to tie it up at 13-13 at the end of the inning.

Madrid-Waddington sealed the win in the top of sixth with a pair of inside-the-park home runs, and then retired the ‘Jacks quietly. Going into the top of the seventh, the Yellowjackets put five more runs on the board, and despite Tupper Lake putting forth a solid effort while down, the visitors left with the win.

Tupper Lake’s Jace Desmarais takes a cut during Thursday’s season-opening game against Madrid-Waddington in Tupper Lake. (Enterprise photo — Justin A. Levine)

Madrid-Waddington improved to 2-1 with the win, and coach Tim Dashnaw said he was happy with the way his girls bounced back from the early deficit.

“I am happy. They didn’t give up when they were down eight-nothing,” he said. “They fought through some growing pains and they started to hit the ball. We hit the ball well, but we’ve had a lot of walks, so that’s hurt us.

“I give Tupper Lake credit, they started to hit the ball at the end and their defense is coming along. But our defense played a lot better today, so I’m pleased with that.”

Although the Lumberjacks opened with a heartbreaker, coach Courtney Manhard said her team was taking the loss as a chance to learn.

“It was a tough one,” she said. “We hit the ball, we fielded for the most part pretty well, we made the right plays at times. They said it themselves after the game. This is a team that is confident and ready to play and ready to win.

“They went in against a good team and held their own. The girls are thrilled. I’m thrilled.”

Tupper Lake begins the season 0-1 with the loss, but Manhard said that for being outside for just the fourth time this spring, the team looked good and can improve going forward.

“They’re ready to play and they called out the things they need to work on,” she said. “So that’s what we’re going to move forward with.”

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BASEBALL

The Tupper Lake baseball team also lost to Madrid-Waddington at home on Thursday. The Yellowjackets jumped out to an early lead with one run in the first inning, and then blew it open with an eight-run second and a four-run third.

The Lumberjacks struggled at the plate — getting just four hits in the contest — until the fifth inning, when junior Skyler Pickering clubbed a monster double to center field that brought home two Tupper Lake runners. But due to a so-called Mercy Rule, the game was called at the end of the fifth because the Yellowjackets were up by more than 10 runs.

Madrid-Waddington improved to 3-1 on the season with the win, and coach Justin Richards said he was more than happy with the way his team played.

“We hit the ball pretty well today, the past couple of games it’s been a little iffy,” Richards said. “We played good defense today. Braydon Bush threw strikes and pitched a really good full game.”

Tupper Lake coach Travis Dupuis said his team has some things to work on, but there could be light at the end of the tunnel.

“This is our fourth day outside; we had some rust,” he said. “Fielding balls off the turf is really different than the gym, and fly balls were finally up in the air.

“But we started to do some things at the end. We haven’t seen much live pitching in games. We started to hit, we got some guys on base, we started to make some plays in the field, so we’ve got a lot of things we can build off of.

“Our pitching was good,” he continued. “We had those couple of errors that led to that big inning (for the Yellowjackets), which is what sunk us.”

Both Tupper Lake teams are slated to host Norwood-Norfolk at home on Saturday at 10 a.m.