UW-Whitewater, ranked fourth in the National Fastpitch Coaches Association Division III poll and the Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference champion, fell 5-2 to UW-River Falls Saturday afternoon in the WIAC Tournament hosted by UW-Superior.  The loss knocked UW-W, 36-5, out of the double elimination tournament while UW-RF, 27-15, advances.  UW-W will await a National Collegiate Athletic Association Division III Championship Tournament berth, which will be announced Monday.

box score

UW-RF scored twice in the top of the first on just one hit, parlaying a hit batter, a sacrifice, a Warhawk error, and that one hit into two tallies.  UW-W cut the margin in half with a run in their half of the first, aided by a two out error by the Falcons.  The winning runs came quickly, in solo home runs in the top of the second off the bats of Rose Tusa and Patty Olson.  Again, Whitewater scored once in their half of the third inning, again unearned, to make it 4-2 Falcons after three.  One more unearned run by UW-RF in the top of the fourth ended the scoring.

Amy Gahl (Beloit/Parkview) went 2x4 with two runs scored for the Warhawks. The two hits push her past Casey Leisgang of UW-Eau Claire (2005-2008) into the number one spot in the WIAC record book with 228 career hits.  She also moved in to fourth place in the league record book with 51 runs scored this season.  Stacy Bahr (Racine/Park) and Jessica Stang (Minnetonka, MN/Minnetonka) shared mound duties for UW-W, with Stang going the last five and a third without allowing an earned run on four hits, no walks and eight strikeouts.  Olson went 3x4 for the Falcons, and Tusa added the win, 10-3, to her second inning home run.

For additional information:  Brenda Volk, UW-W coach, 262-472-1155 or volkb@uww.edu