DE PERE, Wis. (Blugolds.com) – The No. 23-ranked University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire softball team sweep St. Norbert College on Wednesday, defeating the Green Knights by scores of 4-2 and 8-0 (5 innings).
Game 1 Box Score | Game 2 Box Score
In the day's opening game, St. Norbert scored their only runs of the day in the top of the first. Two Green Knight singles put runners on and would later score on a St. Norbert double.
St. Norbert held the lead until the fifth, when UW-Eau Claire tallied three runs to take the lead.
After Sarah Peka (Jr. – Chanhassen, MN/Minnetonka) singled to start the bottom half of the inning, Emma Lehman (Sr. – Brooklyn Park, MN/Champlin Park) reached on an error. Another Green Knight error on Katie Rongstad's (Jr. – Slinger, WI) bunt would score both to tie the game. Rongstad then stole third and scored on a Meghan Witt (Fr. – Portage, WI) sacrifice fly to right field, giving the Blugolds the lead.
In the sixth, Gretchen Arneson (Jr. – Chippewa Falls, WI/Chi-Hi) belted her first homerun of the season to put Eau Claire up 4-2. Peka would retire the Green Knights in the seventh to secure her sixth win of the season in the circle. Brooke Varian (Sr. – Madison, WI/West) collected two of the Blugolds' six hits in the victory.
In game two, Eau Claire recorded two runs in the first and exploded for six in the fifth to get the 8-0 win and secure the sweep.
Varian drove in the first run with a double while Katelyn Yute (So. – North Prairie, WI/Kettle Moraine) followed with an RBI single.
In the fifth, two singles and a walk loaded the bases for Abbey Place (So. – Naperville, IL/Central) who roped a double to score two runs. Varian's RBI single plated another before another Yute single and a walk made it 6-0. After a pitching change for St. Norbert, Cheyenne Johnson (Jr. – Poplar, WI/Northwestern) singled but a Green Knight error would score two more runs on the play to end the game.
Eau Claire out-hit St. Norbert 10-6 in game two, three hits coming from Yute who finished 3-for-3 with an RBI. Johnson earned the win on the mound while striking out two.
The Blugolds (13-3) will open Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (WIAC) play on Saturday as they travel to UW-Stevens Point to take on the Pointers. Follow the action on Blugold Game Day or on the 'UWEC Blugolds' app' on your mobile device.
