EAU CLAIRE, Wis. - Junior second baseman Maggie Hansen (Algonquin, IL/Jacobs) recorded her second grand slam of the season to bolster a 10-3 UW-Whitewater win over UW-La Crosse in the Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference Championship Saturday afternoon. The bases clearing blast scored the go-ahead runs for the Warhawks giving UW-Whitewater a 5-3 lead in the fifth inning. 

The Warhawks advance to Sunday for a 12:30 p.m. contest against a team yet to be determined. There will be three teams left in championship after the final game Saturday evening. 

The Eagles posted the first runs in the game. Senior right-hander Bekka Houda (Lisle, IL/Lisle) gave up just two hits in the inning but both were homeruns for an early 3-0 lead after two innings. 

Two more scoreless innings passed and the atmosphere grew more tense on the Warhawk side of the stands. 

Freshman Mallory Klotz (New Berlin, Wis./West) opened the inning with a single to right field and advanced to second on a groundout. Senior Jo Jablonski (Palatine, IL/Palatine) tagged a single to left center to put runners on the corners and sophomore Amy Ricci (Gurnee, IL/Warren Township) plated UW-Whitewater's first run of the game with a single up the middle. 

After a pitching change, senior Kelynn Sporer (Chilton/Chilton) drew an eight-pitch walk to load the bases for Hansen. The junior stepped into the batter's box and quickly fell behind 0-2 in the count. She watched a ball called outside and fouled off the next pitch down the left field line. As a similar pitch came in from the circle, Hansen connected sending the ball sailing down the left field line. The ball hit the foul screen attached to the foul pole down the left field line for the grand slam giving UW-Whitewater a 5-3 lead. 

The Warhawks held the two-run advantage through the sixth inning. In the seventh, the flood gates opened once again for UW-Whitewater offensively. Sporer led off the inning with a hard shot through the left side. Hansen added to her stellar day at the plate with a double to right center. A passed ball plated one Warhawk. Senior Paige Evangelista (Wheaton, IL/North) followed Hansen's lead with a double to left field scoring one more. 

Senior Caitlin Snyder (Burlington/Catholic Central) singled through the left side plating UW-Whitewater's third run of the inning. With one out, Klotz singled through the right side and pinch runner Jessica Kaemerer (New Lenox, Ill./Lincoln Way West) hustled from first and headed for third. As the throw came in to third, Kaemerer's wrap around slide beat the throw that the third baseman could not handle. Kaemerer popped up as the ball went to the fence and hustled home sliding in safely under the tag. Senior Deven DuCharme (Hudson/Hudson) grounded out to the pitcher scoring the Warhawks' tenth run of the game. 

Sporer, who entered the circle in relief in the fifth inning, and UW-Whitewater's defense held in the bottom of the inning for the win. 

UW-Whitewater's offense tallied 14 hits in the game led by three hits apiece from Klotz and Jablonski. Hansen and Snyder each had two hits and combined for five runs batted in and a run scored. 

Hansen's grand slam is her second of the season - she also cleared the bases on March 25 against Union College in Clermont, Fla. - and marks the first time a Warhawk has had two in a single season since 2008 when Suz Gersich and Lauren Rankins each notched two. Her four-RBI round-tripper is UW-Whitewater's fourth this season, the first time the Warhawks have posted more than two grand slams in a season since 2008. 

UW-Whitewater advances in the WIAC Championship to face a team that will be determined by upcoming games. As of the Warhawks' game Saturday, four teams remain including UW-Oshkosh, UW-River Falls, UW-Stout and UW-Whitewater. Stout and River Falls are facing off in an elimination game in the final game Saturday.