Eau Claire, Wis. - The UW-Whitewater softball team wrapped up the regular season with a doubleheader sweep at UW-Eau Claire Saturday afternoon. The Warhawks took game one 11-5 and the nightcap 7-4 to secure the No. 3 seed in the Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference Tournament.
UWW will head to Oshkosh for the league tournament May 8-9. The Warhawks will open the tournament against the No. 6 seed on Friday at 2:30 PM. Visit the
WIAC Tournament page for more information including official seeding, ticket information and game coverage options (live stats and video streaming).
UW-Whitewater scored in five of seven innings in game one plating 11 runs on 13 hits. The Warhawks opened the scoring in the top of the second.
Rachel Radish (Merton, Wis./Arrowhead) caught the defense off guard with a bunt single.
Emma Giese (Kenosha, Wis./Indian Trail) followed suit with a second-straight base hit via bunt.
Auburn Roberson (South Elgin, Ill./St. Charles North) advanced the pair of Warhawks 60 feet on a sacrifice and
Kaitlyn Weidemann's (Gurnee, Ill./Warren Township) ground ball up the middle scored the first run of the contest.
The Blugolds countered in their half of the inning with four runs on two hits to take a 4-1 lead. The Warhawks came right back in the top of the third with three more to pull within one.
Bella Eggert (Carol Stream, Ill./Glenbard North) tallied UWW's third bunt single of the day to spark the inning.
Maggie Ward (Downers Grove, Ill./North) tagged a double off the wall in centerfield.
Dani Peshia (Newark, Ill./Newark Community) sent a fly ball to deep left to score Eggert before Giese's single to right center brought in Ward.
UWEC came back with a single run on a homerun in the bottom of the fourth, but UWW responded with a huge fifth. Ward continued her hot day at the plate with a leadoff single to left. Radish registered a one-out single up the middle pushing Ward to third and then swiped second in the next at bat. Giese singled to center to score one and put runners on the corners. Giese stole second before Roberson flew out to center for the sacrifice fly. A miscue on a groundball gave UW-Whitewater the lead, 6-5, but the Warhawks weren't done yet.
Following a pitching change,
Liv Ybarra (Chicago, Ill./Taft) was tapped for the pinch hit appearance. The powerful lefty stepped into the box and sent the first pitch screaming to right field field. The ball blasted the Eau Claire scoreboard behind the right field fence for the two-run homer and an 8-6 UWW lead.
The Warhawks would add two more the in the sixth and then another in the seventh.
Ward and Giese each went 3-4 at the plate to pace the UWW offense.
Josie Hammen (Combined Locks, Wis./Kimberly) was stellar in the circle. The junior righty scattered four hits across seven innings of work allowing a single earned run. Meanwhile, she struck out nine and walked just one in the complete game win.
Game two ran similar to the first -- the Warhawks took the lead, Eau Claire countered claiming the advantage and UW-Whitewater came back to reclaim the lead and secure the win.
Peshia snuck a liner inside the right field line for a RBI double early in the first inning for the first run of the game. Giese added a RBI single in the frame to give UWW a 2-0 lead.
The Blugolds scored in each of the next three innings to claim a 4-2 advantage heading into the fifth.
The Warhawks used another Giese single and a Roberson sacrifice fly to plate two in the fifth and tie the game.
In the sixth,
Belle Lapacek (Downers Grove, Ill./South) led off the frame with a pinch hit walk. Later in the inning she dove into home head first on a wild pitch to give UWW the lead. Peshia added two RBI to her day at the plate with a single through the left side to give the Warhawks a three-run cushion.
After a pair of base knocks in the bottom of the sixth, Hammen took to the circle for the second time Saturday. She retired the next six batters she faced to seal the win.
At the plate, Ward, Peshia, Radish and Giese had two hits each.
Kaitlyn Marsh (Des Plaines, Ill./Maine West) got the start while
Madi DeBennette (Wadsworth, Ill./Carmel Catholic) picked up the win in relief. The righty shutout UWEC through 1.1 before Hammen came in for the final two innings for the save.
