EAU CLAIRE, Wis. — The University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire softball team split a Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (WIAC) doubleheader against UW-La Crosse on Wednesday at Bollinger Fields. The Blugolds dropped the first game 4-3 before taking the second 2-1 in their first action of the season at Bollinger.
HOW IT HAPPENED
- Game 1 was a back-and-forth affair, with the Blugolds (20-8, 2-2) trading leads with the Eagles (16-14, 1-3) throughout.
- UW-La Crosse struck first, scoring on a sacrifice fly in the top of the first. The Blugolds answered in the bottom half when Kenna Strunsee (Sr. - Waukesha, Wis./South) hit a solo home run to tie the game.
- Another solo homer, this time from Hailey Hagedorn (Jr. - Farmington, Minn.), coupled with an RBI single from Paige Lathrop (Jr. - South Milwaukee, Wis.) gave UW-Eau Claire a 3-1 lead in the bottom of the second. But the Eagles used a pair of RBI doubles in the fourth inning to tie the game at 3-3.
- A run-scoring single in the top of the seventh put UW-La Crosse ahead for good.
- Hagedorn finished 3-for-3 in Game 1. Strunsee and Lathrop had two hits apiece. Claire Beck (Sr. - Jefferson, Wis.) pitched six innings in the circle and held the Eagles to three runs while striking out eight.
- In its Game 2 victory, UW-Eau Claire did all of its scoring in the first inning. Strunsee scored on a wild pitch and Miranda Gernander (So. - Coleraine, Minn./Greenway) added an RBI single to put the Blugolds up 2-0.
- The two-run lead was enough for Jacie Schultz (Sr. - Lake Crystal, Minn./Lake Crystal-Wellcome Memorial) and Emma Sather (Sr. - Chetek, Wis./Chetek-Weyerhaeuser). Schultz pitched five innings of one-run softball, striking out five, to earn the victory. Sather got the save with two scoreless innings of relief.
- Norah Kutnink (So. - Winneconne, Wis.) and Brooklyn Swanepoel (Fr. - New Richmond, Wis.) had two hits each in the win. Strunsee stole a base to bring her career total to 76, which is tied for the second-most in program history. The record is 100.
UP NEXT
The Blugolds will visit 20th-ranked UW-Whitewater on Saturday, April 19. The doubleheader begins at 2 p.m. at van Steenderen Complex.
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