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Whitewater, Wisconsin Regional Web Page
 
The No. 7 ranked University of Wisconsin-Whitewater softball team saw its tremendous 2017 season come to a close Friday with back-to-back setbacks at the Whitewater, Wisconsin Regional Round of the NCAA Division III Softball Championship at van Steenderen Softball Complex.
 
The Warhawks (37-9 overall) were downed by a 6-3 score against 22nd-ranked Trine (Ind.) to start the day before falling 7-0 against Hope (Mich.) in the nightcap.
 
UW-Whitewater wraps up its season after reaching the NCAA Tournament for the 20th time in program history and fifth year in a row. The team finished undefeated against Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference opponents en route to its 11th WIAC regular season championship and finished 3-0 to claim its fifth straight conference tournament title and ninth overall.
 
In the opener, UW-Whitewater got home runs from junior left fielder Mallory Klotz (New Berlin, Wis./West) and senior first baseman Amy Ricci (Gurnee, Ill./Warren Township), but Trine (34-8) took advantage of a pair of errors and a three-run homer in a five-run third inning to take control of the contest.
 
The Warhawks outhit the Thunder 8-3 in the game but left eight players on base, including five over the last three innings.
 
Sophomore pitcher Julia Camardo (Arlington Heights, Ill./Buffalo Grove) took the tough-luck loss to drop to 11-3 for the season, striking out five in her complete-game effort.
 
In the second game, UW-Whitewater mustered only two hits against Hope ace Sydney Jones and couldn't find an offensive rhythm.
 
The Flying Dutch (27-14) tallied runs in each of the first four innings and knocked a pair of home runs.
 
Freshman pitcher Bella Matthias (Greenfield, Wis./Greenfield) took the loss to finish her outstanding rookie campaign with an 18-4 record. Camardo and freshman Dani Biesiada (Lisle, Ill./Naperville North) each tossed two frames in relief.
 
Ricci and fellow seniors Jessica Kaemerer (New Lenox, Ill./Lincoln Way West), Haley Morelli (Mundelein, Ill./Mundelein) and Cara Smoczynski (Aurora, Ill./Rosary) played in their final games as Warhawks. The quartet helped lead the program to two WIAC regular season championships, four conference tournament titles and four appearances in the NCAA Tournament, including a third-place national finish in 2014.
 
Following the team's first game of the day, Morelli was recognized in a brief graduation "ceremony" with Chancellor Beverly Kopper and Interim Director of Intercollegiate Athletics Randy Marnocha on hand to oversee the conferring of her bachelor's degree.