A pair of strong pitching performances by
Julia Camardo (Arlington Heights, Ill./Buffalo Grove) and
Bella Matthias (Greenfield, Wis./Greenfield), along with a balanced and timely offensive attack, led the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater softball team to a doubleheader sweep of UW-Stevens Point Wednesday afternoon at van Steenderen Complex in Whitewater. The Warhawks, now 11-7 overall and 4-0 in the Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference, defeated the Pointers (11-14, 0-2) 9-1 in five innings in game one and 10-2 in six innings in game two.
Megan Schweitzer (Appleton, Wis./East) opened up game one with a bunt single and then stole second.
Vera Pflugradt (Lake Zurich, Ill./Stevenson) followed with her second homerun of the year to give the Warhawks a 2-0 lead. After two quick outs, back-to-back doubles by
Meg Cohrs (Elburn, Ill./Kaneland) and
Caitlin Catino (Arlington Heights, Ill./Buffalo Grove) made it 3-0, and
Mattie Klingenmeyer (Mayville, Wis./Mayville) followed with a single to make it 4-0 after one inning.
Schweitzer led off the bottom of the second with another bunt single and came around to score on a
Mallory Klotz (New Berlin, Wis./West) single through the right side two batters later. Klotz moved up to second on a steal and scored on a Cohrs single to right to give the Warhawks a 6-0 advantage.
UW-SP's Payton Mix notched a solo homer to left center in the top of the third, but that was Camardo's only hiccup.
The Warhawks added a run in the third, another in the fourth and their last one in the fifth to make it 9-1 and end the game early due to the run-rule.
Camardo pitched all five innings and gave up just three hits and one run while striking out seven to move to 6-1 this season.
Game two went quite the opposite for the Warhawk offense. It took five innings for them to generate a run, but when they did, they opened it up.
Matthias cruised through innings one and two without allowing a hit. When she got to the third frame she struckout the lead off batter, but then gave up a single and a homerun to fall behind 2-0.
Matthias would not allow another hit the rest of the way.
Meanwhile, the Warhawk offense sputtered through the first five innings with just two hits.
Then came this sixth.
Schweitzer got things started with a single through the right side. A hard hit ball by Pflugradt resulted in runners on first and second. Both players moved up a base on a double steal and Klotz followed with a walk to load the bases.
Emily Rux (Chicago, Ill./Mother McAuley) stepped up to bat and ripped a ball to left that hit halfway up the leftfield fence, resulting in a double and a 2-2 game.
Cohrs came to the plate with runners on second and third and hit a grounder to second that scored a run, but an errant throw allowed a second run to score and for Cohrs to reach safely while giving the Warhawks a 4-2 lead.
Another double by Catino made it 5-2, and a pair of Pointer errors ultimately led to Catino scoring to make it 6-2.
With two outs and the bases loaded, Klotz came to the plate and belted her team-leading third home run of the season to make it 10-2 and end the game by virtue of the run-rule.
Matthias, now 4-4 this season, finished the game allowing just the two hits and two runs while striking out seven.
Six Warhawks collected multiple hits in the doubleheader, including Schweitzer who went 5-for-6 with four runs scored, and Catino who went 3-for-5 with two runs and two RBI.
Klotz led the way with five RBI on the day after going 2-for-5 with three runs.
The Warhawks continue their busy week tomorrow when they host non-conference opponent Carthage College in a doubleheader beginning at 2:30 p.m. UW-W will travel to Chicago on Saturday for another doubleheader, and then return home Sunday to host UW-River Falls at 2 p.m.
