UW-W displayed its specialty, the home run (these ladies dig the long ball), in a 5-3 win over Muskingum College Sunday in the National Collegiate Athletic Association Division III World Series in Salem, Virginia.  UW-Whitewater's post-season site     NCAA tournament host site

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Muskingum catcher Kari Hoying clubbed a two-run homer in the first inning to give the Muskies a 2-0 lead. 

Not to be outdone, UW-W came back with four runs in the third, all of them on home runs and all with two outs.  Amy Gahl (Beloit/Parkview) hit a solo shot, followed by a walk to Ashley Smith (Elgin, IL/St. Edward Catholic), and Suzanne Gersich (Wadsworth, IL/Warren) followed with her eleventh of the year to put the Warhawks ahead 3-2.  Lauren Cruz (Des Plaines, IL/Maine West) followed with another solo home run and the Warhawks led 4-2 after four innings.  Ashley Smith (Elgin, IL/St. Edward Catholic) drove in Whitewater's final run with a two-out single in the fifth, putting Whitewater up 5-2. 

Muskingum loaded the bases in the bottom of the fourth, and plated one run with a Warhawk error, but Jessica Stang (Minnetonka, MN/Minnetonka) struck out the next batter and induced a ground out to end the threat.

The three home runs give 66 this season.  That total is the UW-W single season record, it is the Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference record, and it is the second highest total in NCAA III history (only topped by the 72 the University of Saint Thomas amassed in 2006).

Stang picked up the win, upping her mark to 14-5.  She has allowed just two earned runs in twenty innings in the World Series.

UW-W, 37-10, will play again tonight (Sunday), in an elimination game against Ithaca.  The loser of that game will go home, the winner will play Monday.  The NCAA III World Series, using a double elimination format, will conclude Tuesday in Salem.