The UW-Whitewater softball team used a surging offensive output to sweep St. Norbert College Sunday afternoon in Whitewater. The Warhawks totaled 18 runs on 25 hits in the twinbill. 
 
St. Norbert took advantage of an early Warhawk miscue to put on up on the board in the top of the first inning.
 
Sophomore Amy Ricci (Gurnee, IL/Warren Township) opened UW-Whitewater's half of the inning taking a pitch off the arm and heading to first. Junior Courtney Smith (St. Charles, IL/North) took over for Ricci on first base. Senior Kelynn Sporer (Chilton/Chilton) laid down a perfect sacrifice bunt to move Smith into scoring position and junior Maggie Hansen (Algonquin, IL/Jacobs) singled to center field to put runners on the corners.
 
Hansen advanced to second on the pickle steal attempt while Smith remained at third. Senior Paige Evangelista (Wheaton, IL/North) executed the squeeze play perfectly with a soft bunt back toward the circle. Smith, going on the pitch, slid in safely under the tag and Hansen moved to third.
 
Senior designated player Caitlin Snyder (Burlington/Catholic Central) doubled down the left field line as the ball curled just inside third base and tailed away from the left fielder allowing both Hansen and Evangelista to score.
 
Sophomore Hannah Taylor (Glen Ellyn, IL/Glenbard South) traded places with Snyder on second with another double, this one to left center, to give the Warhawks a 4-1 lead.
 
SNC put their first two batters on base in the top of the third and sacrificed both into scoring position but senior right-hander Bekka Houda (Lisle, IL/Lisle) caught the next Green Knight looking at strike three for the second out of the inning. A cue shot off the end of the bat had the ball spinning like a top and was mishandled allowing two runners to touch home and cut the lead to 4-3.
 
Evangelista singled on a flare over the outstretched glove of the shortstop to open the bottom of the fourth.  Snyder moved her into scoring position with a perfectly placed sacrifice bunt. With two outs, freshman Mallory Klotz (New Berlin, Wis./West) singled to the pitcher on a drag bunt and senior Deven DuCharme (Hudson/Hudson) drew a walk to load the bases. Senior Jo Jablonski (Palatine, IL/Palatine) tagged a first pitch single to center field plating two runs and Ricci played follow-the-leader with another single up the middle to extend the Warhawk lead to 7-3.
 
Snyder registered her first homerun of 2015 with a rocket to center field in the bottom of the fifth widening the gap to 8-3.
 
In the bottom of the sixth, Jablonski notched a one-out single through the left side. A walk, ground out and another single through the left side on a hard grounder off Hansen's bat added one more to the Warhawk tally increasing the lead to 9-3.
 
Houda scattered six hits over seven innings of work to improve to 12-3 on the mound for the Warhawks this season. The righty struck out five, did not issue a walk and allowed zero earned runs in the contest. 

Game Two Recap
The Warhawks struck first in game two. Klotz opened the inning by beating out a groundball to the pitcher for a single. A sacrifice bunt moved Klotz into scoring position and she came in on a single to right field by Jablonski.
 
A groundout moved Jablonski and Sporer traded places with her teammate on a double to shallow left field. Freshman Michayla Swanson (Randolph, Wis./Randolph) followed with a hard shot to the right side that landed just inside the foul stripe and rolled into the corner for an RBI triple. Evangelista plated the Warhawks' fourth run of the inning with a single through the left.
 
Taylor ripped her second double of the day on a line to left center to open the bottom of the second for the Warhawks. Klotz sacrificed Taylor to third and DuCharme's single through the right side extended the UW-Whitewater lead to 5-0.
 
Ricci burned the right fielder on a line drive to the fence for a stand-up, two-out, RBI double to make it 6-0.
 
Snyder added to her stellar day at the plate with her second homer of the season and second of the day on a no-doubt, two-run laser to straight center that pushed the lead to 8-0 with no outs in the bottom of the third.
 
Taylor and Klotz played follow-the-leader with back-to-back singles up the middle. A groundout up the middle resulted in a fielder's choice to second to put runners on the corners. A hard shot at the corner off Jablonski's bat for a single went off the third baseman's mitt and had all Warhawk runners safe on the bases.
 
Ricci followed with a smart shot to the right side for the RBI to make it 9-0 UW-Whitewater.
 
Consecutive doubles for the Green Knights plated one run with two outs in the top of the fourth but a great catch on the run by right fielder Morgan Parise (Sheboygan/North) ended the inning and brought the Warhawks back to the plate.
 
The scoreboard read zeros the rest of the way to seal the 9-1, five inning win for UW-Whitewater.
 
UW-Whitewater blasted 14 hits in the game with four Warhawks posting multiple hits in the game.
 
Sporer picked up her ninth with on the mound this season with two strikeouts in three innings of work allowing just one hit.
 
The Warhawks will host UW-La Crosse April 23 at 3 and 5 p.m.