Box Score Menomonie, Wis. - The University of Wisconsin-La Crosse softball team earned a 5-4 victory over UW-Whitewater in the championship round of the Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (WIAC) Tournament Sunday afternoon at UW-Stout's Alumni Field.  The Eagles improve to 25-12 on the season while the Warhawks drop to 30-9.  The teams will play a second championship game Sunday starting at 2 p.m. with the winner earning the league's automatic berth to the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division III Championships.

UW-Whitewater earned a 2-1 victory over UW-L in Friday's opening day of the conference tournament.

UW-L took a 1-0 lead in the bottom of first Sunday.  Katie Fink doubled to start the inning and scored on Megan Nelson's one-out double.  UW-Whitewater tied the game at 1-1 in the top of the fourth inning as Mimi Ramirez scored on a Morgan Krisch single.

The Eagles led 2-1 in the bottom of the fourth.  Nelson was hit-by-pitch to start the inning and advanced to second on a passed ball. She then went to third on Lindsey Sheehan's sacrifice bunt.  Nelson then scored on a Emilie Witzius RBI groundout.

UW-L added to its lead with a pair of runs in the bottom of the fifth to make it 4-1.  Fink doubled with two outs and scored on Alecia Faber's single, who advanced to second on the play.  Nelson followed with an RBI single to knock in Faber for a 4-1 advantage.

UW-Whitewater, ranked 23rd on this week's National Fastpitch Coaches Association (NFCA) Top-25 Poll, cut the margin to 4-2 in the top of the sixth as Ramirez reached on a UW-L error and scored on Kelly McGrail's RBI double.  UW-L came right back in the bottom half of sixth.  Kelli Anderson reached on an error with one out and replaced by pinch-runner Erin Maletzke.  After a strikeout, Maletzke stole second and then scored on Kallie Krech's single to give the Eagles a 5-2 advantage.

The Warhawks scored twice with two outs in the top of the seventh.  Chelsey Schobert and Samie Seamon singled while pinch-hitter Caitlin Snyder delivered a run-scoring single to knock in pinch-runner Deven DuCharme.  McGrail's single scored Seamon to cut UW-L's lead to 5-4.  Krisch walked to load the bases, but Amy Ricci groundout to the end.

Nelson (10-6) earned the win for UW-L, pitching 6.2 innings, allowing seven hits and four runs (three earned) with two strikeouts.  Heather Grelle picked up her second save of the season, pitching 0.1 of an inning, allowing one hit and one walk.  Nelson went 2-for-2 at the plate with a run scored and two RBI while Fink finished 3-for-3 with two runs scored.

Kelynn Sporer (12-5) suffered the loss for UW-Whitewater, going 4.2 innings, allowing seven hits and four runs (three earned) while striking out three.  McGrail went 2-for-3 with two RBI.

The teams will face other at approximately 2 p.m. Sunday in the second championship game.