Rochester, Minn. - The University of Wisconsin-La Crosse softball team split a pair of games at the Rochester Regional Stadium and Bubble Sunday night. The Eagles earned a 9-5 victory over The College of St. Benedict (Minn.) before falling 4-3 in eight innings to St. Olaf College (Minn.). UWL is now 2-2 on the season.
St. Benedict (Minn.) got off to a 4-0 lead with three runs in the first inning and one in the second Sunday night. UWL cut its deficit to 4-3 with three runs in the bottom of the fourth.
Megan Andes scored on
Brittany Baldwin's single to get the Eagles on the board at 4-1 and UWL scored a pair of unearned runs on an St. Benedict (Minn.) error later in the inning.
The Eagles tied the game in the bottom of the fifth after
Stephanie Cole's RBI single scored
Haley Gudmundson.
St. Benedict (Minn.) came back in the top of the sixth to take a 5-4 lead before UWL tallied five runs in the bottom of the inning to lead 9-5. Baldwin scored on
Ashley Lindstrom's single to tie game at 5-5 and Cole's three-run triple knocked in
Morgann Harbort,
Grace Mindrup and Kathryn VanderSchaaf for an 8-5 advantage.
Lane Dickman followed with an RBI single to score Cole to finish the scoring.
Katie Klein (1-1) earned the win for UWL, going 5.1 innings in relief. She allowed three hits, one run and one walk with one strikeout.
Caitlyn Hughes started for the Eagles, pitching 1.2 innings, allowing five hits, four runs and two walks. Cole finished 4-for-4 with one double, one triple, four RBI and one run. Baldwin went 2-for-2 with an RBI.
In the nightcap versus St. Olaf (Minn.), the Oles took a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the first before the Eagles scored twice in the top of the sixth to take a 2-1 lead. Baldwin scored on a St. Olaf (Minn.) error to tie the game and Andes later scored on a second error of the inning.
St. Olaf (Minn.) tied the game in the bottom of the sixth
The teams used the international tiebreaker in the top of the eighth inning with UWL's Baldwin placed second on base to start the inning. After a
Sydney Murphy sacrifice bunt moved Baldwin to third,
Sarah Mueller reached on a St. Olaf (Minn.) error scoring Baldwin. The Oles scored two runs on four hits in the bottom of the eighth. Kate Arneson's RBI single tied the game and Kristina Lodahl's bases-loaded single knocked in the winning run for St. Olaf (Minn.).
Klein (1-2) suffered the loss for UWL, pitching 2.2 innings, allowing five hits, three runs (one earned) and one walk with two strikeouts.
Jessie Carignan started, going 4.1 innings, allowing five hits, one run (unearned) and one walk while striking out two. Baldwin went 2-for-4 with two runs.
UWL returns to action Sunday, March 12 opening its spring trip at the Tucson (Ariz.) Invitational Games. The Eagles face Eastern Connecticut University March 12 at 11 a.m. (Mountain Time) and Augsburg College (Minn.) at 1:30 p.m. (Mountain).
