The University of
Wisconsin-Platteville and No. 7 UW-Whitewater combined to hit seven
home runs in a WIAC doubleheader on Tuesday afternoon at the
UW-Platteville softball complex. The visiting Warhawks swept the
twinbill from the host Pioneers, 7-6 and 8-2.
The second two-run home run of the
game by Paige Evangelista of UW-Whitewater was just enough to lead
the visiting Warhawks to a 7-6 win over the Pioneers in game one.
Before the game could be decided, UW-Platteville entered the
seventh inning with a 7-5 deficit.
With one out, the Pioneers' Ellyn
Goerdt walked and she moved to third on a Colleen Lowe single to
right center. With the runners on the corners, Molly Rice singled
to left field to score Goerdt and move pinchrunner Cassandra Bonin
to second. The hit forced a UW-Whitewater pitching change, and then
Audrey Gronen walked to load the bases. However, then, the
Warhawks' reliever Bekka Houda got a strikeout and a ground out to
end the contest.
Earlier in the game, Evangelista
put UW-Whitewater ahead in the first inning on her first two-run
homerun of the game. The Pioneers tied it in the third on a two-run
roundtripper by Chantal McReynolds. UW-Platteville went ahead 3-2
in the fourth on a sacrifice fly by McReynolds.
The Pioneers stretched the lead to
5-2 on a two-run home run by Goerdt in the fifth inning; however,
the Warhawks quickly tied it when Laura Eichenold hit a three-run
shot in the top of the sixth. With the game, tied at 5, in the
seventh, Evangelista hit her second two-run homerun of the game
that proved to be the difference, despite the heroics by the
Pioneers in the bottom half of the inning.
In the night cap, the Warhawks
pounded out 16 hits, nine of which came from the top four in the
order. UW-Platteville shortstop Chantal McReynolds had two of the
six hits for UW-Platteville in the loss.
UW-Whitewater took a 1-0 lead in
the first but that lead was quickly erased on a solo home run by
the Pioneers' Audrey Gronen in the second inning to tie the game at
1. The Warhawks regained the lead in the fourth with a run and they
added to their lead with three more in both the sixth and
seventh.
The Pioneer offense was limited to
a solo home run by Colleen Lowe in the sixth, in the loss.
UW-Whitewater starter Bekka Houda went the distance to raise her
record to 8-2, she struck out five and scattered six hits.
The two losses drops the Pioneers
to 17-13 overall and 7-5 in the WIAC; whereas, the Warhawks improve
to 23-5 and 6-0 in the WIAC. Next for the Pioneers is a WIAC
doubleheader against UW-Oshkosh on Wed., April 25 at the
UW-Platteville softball complex.
