The UW-Whitewater softball team split a twinbill with Augustana (IL) on a chilly day at the van Steenderen Softball Complex Tuesday. The Warhawks took the opener 5-3 before falling 6-5 in the extra inning nightcap.
UW-Whitewater got on the board in the bottom of the first in game one.
Rachel Radish (Merton, Wis./Arrowhead) tagged a one-out triple to right center for the Warhawks' first hit of the contest.
Dani Peshia (Newark, Ill./Newark Community) drove Radish in on a single to the shortstop in the next at bat for an early 1-0 lead.
Two innings later, UWW put up a crooked number to extend the lead to 5-0.
Bella Eggert (Carol Stream, Ill./Glenbard North) led off the frame with a single up the middle. Radish followed suit with a base knock to left field and Peshia loaded the bases after taking one for the team. A dropped fly ball plated one run and kept the bases loaded. A passed ball in the next at bat saw another Warhawk touch home.
Grace Grabowy (Arlington Heights, Ill./John Hersey) tallied a RBI single to center before
Kaitlyn Weidemann (Gurnee, Ill./Warren Township) drove in the final run of the inning on a fielder's choice for the five-run margin.
The Vikings came back with single runs in the fourth, sixth and seventh for the 5-3 final.
Eggert and Radish combined for five of the Warhawks' eight hits in the opener going 5-8 at the plate.
Brooke Hock (Green Bay, Wis./Preble) got the start and picked up the win in four innings of work. The senior struck out three and scattered four hits across four innings in the circle.
Josie Hammen (Combined Locks, Wis./Kimberly) came in for the final three innings to register her second save of the season.
The long ball was a prominent fixture of the nightcap with a combined five homers between the two squads.
Augustana took an early lead with a run in the top of the first before adding two more in the second. UW-Whitewater responded in the bottom of the inning, capitalizing on a pair of miscues as Eggert singled in
Auburn Roberson (South Elgin, Ill./St. Charles North) for the Warhawks' first score of game two.
The bottom of the third started off with a bang as Peshia and
Emma Giese (Kenosha, Wis./Indian Trail) tagged back-to-back jacks to spark the offense. Later in the inning Grabowy lined a ball down the right field line for a RBI double to give UWW a 4-3 lead.
That score held until the Vikings hit a solo shot to leadoff the top of the fifth. The Warhawks responded to reclaim the lead in their half of the frame.
Belle Lapacek (Downers Grove, Ill./South) legged out an infield single to lead off the inning. She moved up on a passed ball before Roberson drew a walk. The duo moved up 60 more on a groundout and with two outs, a miscue allowed one Warhawk to come in for the 5-4 lead.
Augustana tied the game with a one-out long ball in the top of the seventh. It was deja vu in the top of the eighth as the Vikings took the lead with another one-out homer for the final.
UWW scored five runs on five hits - each by a different Warhawk - in game two.
Madi DeBennette (Wadsworth, Ill./Carmel Catholic),
Kaitlyn Marsh (Des Plaines, Ill./Maine West), Hammen and Hock all saw time in the circle with Hock suffering the loss.
UW-Whitewater is back at it tomorrow (Wednesday) for a doubleheader at Chicago.
