CLERMONT, Fla. – The No. 10 University of Wisconsin-Whitewater softball team continued a tough stretch of competition at the NTC Spring Games Saturday by splitting a doubleheader against St. Thomas (Minn.) at the NTC Softball Complex.
 
The Warhawks (3-3 overall) dropped the first game by a 5-4 score before erupting offensively in Game 2 for a 9-1 victory in a contest shortened to five innings due to run rule.
 
In the second game, the Tommies (4-4) scored the first run of the contest in the top of the first inning before UW-Whitewater posted nine unanswered runs.
 
Junior pitcher Julia Camardo (Arlington Heights, Ill./Buffalo Grove) tossed a complete game for the win to improve to 2-0 on the season. She allowed only one unearned run and struck out three in the performance.
 
Senior left fielder Mallory Klotz (New Berlin, Wis./West), senior second baseman Michayla Swanson (Randolph, Wis./Randolph) and junior shortstop Emily Rux (Chicago, Ill./Mother McAuley) collected two hits and two runs batted in apiece to lead the offense.
 
Swanson tripled home junior Kayla Seymour (New Lenox, Ill./Lincoln-Way West), who was pinch running for Camardo, to tie the game at 1-1 in the bottom of the third. Swanson scored from third on a first-and-third situation, and sophomore right fielder Megan Schweitzer (Appleton, Wis./East) scored all the way from first on an error to make it 3-1. Three batters later, Rux knocked an RBI base hit to score Klotz, who doubled with two outs and nobody on.
 
After a 1-2-3 inning by Camardo, the Warhawks tallied five runs – all with two outs – in the bottom of the fourth. Swanson brought Camardo home with a base hit, junior centerfielder Caitlin Catino (Arlington Heights, Ill./Buffalo Grove) brought one run home with a double, Klotz knocked a two-run triple and Rux singled home Klotz.
 
In the opener, St. Thomas took the lead for good with one run in the bottom of the sixth, and the Warhawks were retired in order in the top of the seventh.
 
Sophomore Bella Matthias (Greenfield, Wis./Greenfield) took the loss, allowing three earned runs over six innings to drop to 1-2 on the season.
 
Klotz led the offense with two hits and two runs batted in, and sophomore catcher Nicole Neitzel (Verona, Wis./Verona Area) added two hits.
 
The Tommies tallied one run each in the first and second innings before UW-Whitewater took the lead in the top of the third. Matthias hit a double down the left field line to plate Neitzel, who led off the frame with a double. Three batters later, Klotz knocked a two-out, two-run single to center to give the team a one-run advantage.
 
St. Thomas retook the lead in the bottom of the third, and the Warhawks tied the game in the fifth on a bases-loaded walk by Rux.
 
UW-Whitewater returns to action Sunday with games against Tufts (Mass.) at 8 a.m. Central Time and Wellesley (Mass.) at 10:30 a.m. Central Time.