The University of Wisconsin-Whitewater softball team played its first true road games of the 2018 season Friday afternoon, falling 2-1 in the first game and defeating Chicago 11-0 in five innings in the nightcap in a non-conference doubleheader in Chicago, Ill.
 
The Warhawks (14-8 overall) out-hit the Maroons 12-1 in the second game to take the contest by run rule after five innings.
 
Sophomore Bella Matthias (Greenfield, Wis./Greenfield) tossed the one-hitter to improve to 5-4 on the season, striking out five in the stellar performance. She held Chicago (14-8) without a hit or baserunner until the fourth inning and faced only one hitter over the minimum.
 
Freshman right fielder Vera Pflugradt (Lake Zurich, Ill./Stevenson) finished 3-for-4 with two runs scored and two runs batted in. Sophomore first baseman Mattie Klingenmeyer (Mayville, Wis./Mayville) posted two hits, including a solo home run, and added one walk and two runs scored. Sophomore third baseman Meg Cohrs (Elburn, Ill./Kaneland) registered two hits, one walk and three RBI, and sophomore second baseman Megan Schweitzer (Appleton, Wis./East) contributed two hits, two runs scored and two RBI.
 
After plating one in the first inning on a two-out single by Cohrs, UW-Whitewater struck for five in the second on Klingenmeyer's homer, a run-scoring hit by Pflugradt and fielder's choice grounders for RBIs by senior left fielder Mallory Klotz (New Berlin, Wis./West) and junior shortstop Emily Rux (Chicago, Ill./Mother McAuley).
 
Schweitzer plated a run with nobody out in the third, and Cohrs provided another two-out, RBI hit with a base hit up the middle that scored two.
 
UW-Whitewater added two in the fourth on an RBI groundout by Schweitzer and a two-out, run-scoring single by Pflugradt.
 
Stymied offensively for much of the opener, the Warhawks loaded the bases with one out in the top of the seventh. Junior pitcher Julia Camardo (Arlington Heights, Ill./Buffalo Grove) brought the team to within one with a groundout to plate Klotz, but Chicago recorded the final out of the game one batter later.
 
Camardo dropped to 6-2 with the tough luck loss, allowing only three hits and one walk while striking out nine in her complete-game performance.
 
Klotz, Cohrs, Pflugradt and junior centerfielder Caitlin Catino (Arlington Heights, Ill./Buffalo Grove) each tallied one hit for UW-Whitewater.
 
The Maroons scored on a home run in the third and a fielder's choice in the fifth.
 
The Warhawks return to action Tuesday at UW-Platteville. First pitch of the Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference doubleheader is slated for 2 p.m.