Related Links:
WIAC Softball Championship Web Page
 
The University of Wisconsin-Whitewater softball team opened the Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference Championship (Presented by Culver's) with a convincing 7-0 triumph over UW-Eau Claire at van Steenderen Softball Complex in Whitewater.
 
With the win, the top-seeded Warhawks advance to face No. 2 seed UW-Oshkosh, a 9-3 winner over UW-Stout, on Saturday at 10 a.m.
 
UW-Whitewater (23-11-1 overall) tallied 10 hits, and junior Julia Camardo (Arlington Heights, Ill./Buffalo Grove) tossed a complete-game shutout, allowing only three hits by the Blugolds (21-17).
 
Camardo improved to 11-5 with her fourth shutout of the season, allowing only four base runners in the contest while striking out six.
 
The Warhawks erupted for five runs in the bottom of the third. Senior left fielder Mallory Klotz (New Berlin, Wis./West) started the surge with a base hit to left to score one, and junior third baseman Emily Rux (Chicago, Ill./Mother McAuley), the next batter, knocked a two-run single to right center to make it 3-0.
 
Klotz scored from third on a wild pitch one batter later to increase the lead to four, and junior first baseman Molly Ethington (Rock Island, Ill./Alleman Catholic) doubled to left field to plate Rux and make it a 5-0 advantage.
 
After Camardo stranded two runners in the top of the fifth, UW-Whitewater added two more insurance runs in the bottom half of the frame on a base hit through the right side by Ethington, who finished with a game-high three runs batted in.
 
Sophomore designated player Vera Pflugradt (Lake Zurich, Ill./Stevenson) finished 2-for-3 with one run scored, and Klotz and Rux collected two hits apiece.
 
Saturday's game is the third this season between UW-Whitewater and UW-Oshkosh. The Warhawks won a pair of one-run games back on April 22 in Whitewater.
 
Both teams reached the NCAA Tournament last season.