The fourth time's the charm, at least as far as UW-Eau Claire softball is concerned.  UW-Whitewater fell to UW-Eau Claire 5-1 Thursday in the first round of the National Collegiate Athletic Association Division III regional hosted by Illinois Wesleyan University in Bloomington, Illinois.  The Warhawks, 36-6 and number one seed in the regional, will face Coe College, 35-10, Friday at 2:00.  Coe defeated UW-Eau Claire 4-1, now 29-15, earlier Thursday.  The regional uses a double elimination format.

box score

Whitewater's NCAA Tournament Central site

UW-Whitewater won the three previous meetings between the teams this season, including two shutouts.  The Warhawks won the Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference regular season doubleheader 4-0 and 2-0 April 24 in Whitewater, and UW-W won the matchup in the WIAC Tournament last Friday 4-2.

Eau Claire's first two runners both reached base with a bunt single, and the third batter, Bekki Kidnie, hit her fourth home run of the season to put the Blugolds in front 3-0 before an out was registered.  The Blugolds added to their lead in the third, with back-to-back singles putting runners at the corners.  Both advanced on a wild pitch, 4-0, and another came in on a ground out to make it 5-0. 

Ashley Smith (Elgin, IL/St. Edward Catholic) led off Whitewater's fourth with a single, was doubled to third by Suzanne Gersich (Wadsworth, IL/Warren), and came in on a Lauren Cruz (Des Plaines, IL/Maine West) sacrifice fly.  Gersich leads UW-W with 14 doubles this year and Cruz is the RBI leader with 47.

There was a thirty-five minute rain delay as UW-W batted in the sixth inning.

Jessica Stang (Minnetonka, MN/Minnetonka) took the loss, just the second of the season against nineteen wins.  She struck out seven and did not walk a batter.  Coming in with a 0.61 earned run average, the five earned runs is the most she has allowed this season.

UW-W also lost in the regional last year, after winning two games, but came back with three wins to advance to the World Series (final eight).

For additional information:  Brenda Volk, UW-W coach