For the first time since the 2006
season, the University of Wisconsin-Platteville softball team has
began WIAC play with a 2-0 mark, following a 4-1 and 17-5
doubleheader sweep of UW-Superior on Saturday at the UW-Platteville
Softball Complex.
The two wins extends the Pioneers
winning streak to three games and raises their record to 10-8
overall and 2-0 in the WIAC. The Yellow Jackets, who have yet to
play a home game, drop to 4-10 overall and 0-2 in the WIAC.
In game one, the two teams overcame
chilly 39 degree temps for 14 hits. However, it was three different
Pioneers, who had two hits including Nathalie Schattner, Ellyn
Goerdt and Molly Rice. UW-Platteville starting pitcher Melissa
Anderson raised her record to 6-4 with a complete game, who matched
a season-high with seven strikeouts and scattered eight hits.
With the game tied at one, the
Pioneers plated three decisive runs in the third inning. With the
bases loaded and one out, a miscue by the Yellow Jackets on a
Jordan Johnson fly ball scored the go-ahead run for UW-Platteville.
Next, Rice drove in two more on a single to put the Pioneers ahead
4-1.
The Yellow Jackets mounted a threat
in the seventh with a single and a double to start the inning.
Then, Anderson took over getting a ground out, a strikeout and
another ground out to keep UW-Superior off the scoreboard and
preserve the win.
In game two, the sun started to
peak through the clouds and sparked a Pioneer offensive attack for
17 runs on 15 hits. The 17 runs are the most by a UW-Platteville
squad since a 22-4 win on April 5, 2007 against Dubuque.
Nathalie Schattner led the attack
with a 3-for-4 effort with three runs scored and five RBIs. Two of
her three hits were home runs.
Also with three hits was Chantal
McReynolds, who scored three times and drove in four and Kayla
Gosdeck. Ellyn Goerdt and Jordan Johnson each had two hits in the
win.
The Pioneers found themselves
behind early 2-0 in the top of the first but that lead was quickly
erased in the bottom half of the inning with the first of two
homeruns by Schattner. UW-Platteville continued its offensive
prowess with a six-run effort in the second inning. In the inning,
Schattner hit her second two-run home run and a two-RBI single by
McReynolds sparked the Pioneers.
UW-Superior scored once in the
third and two more in the fourth to cut the deficit to 8-5.
However, again the Pioneers had an answer in the fourth inning. In
the inning, the Pioneers sent 12 batters to the plate for nine runs
on nine hits.
In relief of starter Jeni
Freiburger, the Pioneers' Brittany Caley retired the Yellow
Jackets in order in the fifth to secure the run-rule victory for
UW-Platteville. Freiburger picked up the win, pitching four innings
and striking out two to improve to 3-4.
The Pioneers will look to continue
its winning ways on Sunday, Apr. 1 when they host UW-Eau Claire at
1 p.m. at the UW-Platteville Softball Complex.
