EAU CLAIRE, Wis. (Blugolds.com)— In their second home double-header of the season, the UW-Eau Claire Softball team earned a split against UW-River Falls (16-14, 3-5 WIAC). The action at Gelein Field saw an early 6-4 Falcons victory in game one while the Blugolds (17-13, 8-2 WIAC) grabbed game two, 2-1.

Game 1 Box Score | Game 2 Box Score | Video Recap

UW-River Falls made their presence known early in the first game when they scored the first run in the 1^st inning on a two-out homerun sent over the left field fence. Another hit would land a double but Blugold pitcher Zana Lorbetske (Jr.-Rhinelander, WI/Three Lakes) struck out a batter looking to end the inning and get the Eau Claire offense rolling. In the bottom of the 1^st, a batter hit by pitch and a base hit bunt from Taylor Pierce (Sr.-Ashwaubenon, WI) put one runner in scoring position with no outs. Catcher Casey Arnold (Sr.-Kaukauna, WI) stepped up and singled to left field but the runner on 2^nd would be thrown out at home. Still down 1-0, Leah Wolff (So.-Middleton, WI) came up with a hard ground ball through the middle infield to score both Pierce and Emily Pomykalski (So.-Cross Plains, WI/Middleton), pinch running for Arnold. The inning would end with two more quick outs.

The Blugolds held their 3-1 lead until the 3^rd inning when the Falcons' left fielder smacked a homerun to left center scoring three. In the bottom of that inning, Arnold added another hit, this time a double to center field. But UW-Eau Claire couldn't string together hits and the inning would end with a 4-3 score in favor of UW-River Falls.

The final run for UW-Eau Claire came in the 4^th inning when Amanda Fischer (Sr.-Wausau, WI/West) hit a line drive ball to center field to score one runner. But the Falcons answered right back with another solo shot to left center field in the 6th. Three up and three down for the Blugold offense in the bottom of the 7^th inning would give UW-River Falls the 6-4 victory.

Game two started slow as neither team plated a run until the 3^rd inning when UW-Eau Claire's Kelsey Meredith (So.-Golden Valley, MN/Armstrong) put one on the board with a homerun to left center. The 1-0 score would hold until the 6^th inning when UW-River Falls added an unearned run on two Blugold errors. UW-Eau Claire came knocking in the bottom of the inning when three consecutive singles from the bottom of the order loaded the bases. Meredith would make it four singles when she put the ball in the center field gap, knocking in one run. That would be all it that was needed as UW-Eau Claire picked up conference win number eight on the year.

Defensively in game two, Fischer had seven assists while Deanna Gilane (Sr.-South Milwaukee, WI) had twelve putouts. In the 2^nd inning, the duo worked together to get all three outs on throws from third base to first.

Arnold went 4-for-5 on the day while Wolff and Meredith had two RBIs apiece.

UW-Eau Claire moves to 8-2 in the Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletics Conference and in the standings is second only to UW-La Crosse. The team has a big weekend ahead of them as they take on the Eagles of UW-L on Saturday, April 18 and the UW-Platteville Pioneers on Sunday, April 19. Game times are 1 and 3 p.m. on Saturday and noon and 2 p.m. on Sunday.

-MRW-