Box Score 1 |
Box Score 2 WINONA, Minn. (Blugolds.com)—In their final games of the regular season, the UWEC Softball Team looked to end on a high note and keep up a five game win streak. On Monday afternoon they improved that streak to seven and picked up a sweep of the Saint Mary's University Cardinals on the road.
The only runs in game one belonged to the UW-Eau Claire Blugolds when they chalked up two in the 3rd inning. Nikki Brooks (Sr.-Hammond, WI/St. Croix Central) provided a spark to the offense when opened up the inning with a triple into right field. Two outs later, Taylor Pierce (Sr.-Ashwaubenon, WI) had a line drive single to score Brooks and give the Blugolds a 1-0 lead. Leah Wolff (So.-Middleton, WI) would score Pierce on the next play with a shot to the left center gap, good enough for a double and the RBI. The Cardinals would put only one runner into scoring position in game one and never threaten to take over a lead from the Blugolds
Zana Lorbetske (Jr.-Rhinelander, WI/Three Lakes) got the win from the mound Monday. She struck out 12 batters and gave up just two hits.
Game two opened up with a six run 1st inning for the Blugolds. Leadoff hitter, Amanda Fischer (Sr.-Wausau, WI/West) was walked followed by Pierce who was hit by a pitch. SMU would walk two more batters, giving the Blugolds an early 1-0 lead. Rachel Heffel (So.-Racine, WI/Case) would hit a single to score another and Kelsey Meredith (So.-Golden Valley, MN/Armstrong) took care of business with a three run homerun to put the Blugolds up 6-0.
The Blugolds would not score again until the 4th inning where they added two more runs off two hits. The final run of the game would belong to the Cardinals in the bottom of the 5th. They forced the game into the regulation seven innings but UW-Eau Claire remained victorious and took it 8-1.
UW-Eau Claire wraps up their regular season with a 26-14 record. After securing a conference title, which they will share with UW-Whitewater, they are the No. 1 seed heading into the Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (WIAC) Tournament. The Blugolds will host the conference tournament at Gelein Field on May 1-3.
-MRW-
