EAU CLAIRE, Wis. (
www.blugolds.com) – The University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire softball team was back at Bollinger Fields on Saturday as they continued Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (WIAC) play against #23 ranked UW-Whitewater. The Blugolds battled hard in
The opening game of the afternoon between the Blugolds and Warhawks found Eau Claire with an early deficit as UWW capitalized on a UWEC throwing error and a single through the left side to take a 2-0 lead in the top of the first inning.
Molly Marquardt (Fr. – Manhattan, Ill./Lincoln Way West) answered for UW-Eau Claire in the bottom of the first with an RBI single up the middle that brought
Paige Lathrop (So. – South Milwaukee, Wis.) across home plate from third to cut the Warhawks' lead to 2-1.
The lone run in the opening inning would be the only time the Blugolds would find a run as Whitewater kept them off the board in the following four innings. The visitors recorded multiple RBI singles and a pair of RBI extra base hits to add nine runs to their total in the following four innings. With no answer from UWEC, the game ended in the fifth as the Blugolds took the 11-1 loss.
Game two had a different feel from the beginning as the Blugolds struck first in the bottom of the first.
Molly Marquardt captured her second RBI of the day on a hard ground ball to the shortstop that forced the defender to dive for the ball and allowed
Claire Beck (Jr. – Jefferson, Wis.) to earn the game's first run.
After holding the 23
rd ranked Warhawks to no runs in the first two innings, Eau Claire saw their one run lead slip on a pair on RBI doubles in the third and fourth inning that put Whitewater ahead, 2-1. Aside from the pair of runs in the middle innings, UWEC's defense stood strong and kept UWW to just two runs on seven hits in seven innings.
As the game neared the final frames, Norah Kutnick (Fr. – Winneconne, Wis.) sparked the UWEC dugout in the bottom of the sixth as she scored on a hard-hit ground ball to the second basemen by
Ashlyn Grimm (Fr. – Auburndale, Wis.) to tie the game at 2-2.
Jacie Schultz (Jr. – Lake Crystal, Minn./Lake Crystal-Wellcome Memorial) held a stellar game from the pitching rubber as Schultz recorded six strikeouts and allowed just two runs on seven hits during the 27 batters she faced.
With neither team able to tally a run in the seventh, extra innings were needed to determine the victor. After retiring the first batter, the Blugold defense allowed the bases to load during the next three batters. The Warhawks took back their lead with an RBI single and a RBI ground out before the end of the half inning, making it 5-2. UWEC found no answer in the bottom of the eighth to fall for the second in the regular season series, 5-2.
The Blugolds (13-11, WIAC 2-4) will have a quick turn around as they host a nonconference doubleheader on Sunday, April 21 at Bollinger Fields with the College of Saint Benedict (Minn.) in town. Game one is scheduled to begin at 1 p.m.
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