La Crosse, Wis. - The University of Wisconsin-La Crosse softball team earned a Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (WIAC) doubleheader sweep of UW-Eau Claire Monday afternoon at North Campus Field in the Eagles' home opener. UWL won the opener, 8-0 in five innings, and the nightcap, 2-1. UWL improves to 15-11 overall and 2-2 in the WIAC while UW-Eau Claire drops to 16-10 overall and 4-2 in the conference. 

Caitlyn Hughes (6-6) earned the complete-game win in the opener, going 5.0 innings, allowing three hits and two walks while striking out four.

The Eagles took a 2-0 lead in the bottom of the first Monday as Brittany Baldwin had a bunt single to start the game and later scored on Mia Schmidtke's two-run home run. It was her sixth home run of the season.  Schmidtke's six home runs are tied for ninth in single-season school history. Liz Bradley hit a school record 11 home runs in 2008.

UWL took a 3-0 lead in the third inning as Schmidtke scored on Sarah Stewart's RBI single. The Eagles scored five times in the bottom of the fourth with one hit. UW-Eau Claire had three walks and two hit-by-pitches in the inning. Schmidtke drew a bases-loaded walk while Grace Mindrup was hit-by-pitch with the bases-loaded. Sabrina Scardamaglia added a two-run double while Stewart finished the scoring with a sacrifice fly.  

UWL finished with seven hits in the opener as Schmidtke went 2-for-2 with three runs, three RBI and one walk. Stewart went 2-for-2 with two RBI while Baldwin scored twice. 

Sarah Peka (8-6) took the loss for UW-Eau Claire, pitching 4.0 innings, allowing seven hits, five run and three walks with one strikeout. Three different players had a hit for the Blugolds.

UWL scored its two runs in the nightcap in the bottom of the third on back-to-back two-out RBI doubles from Mindrup and Scardamaglia. UW-Eau Claire cut the lead to 2-1 in the bottom of the fifth as Katelyn Yute scored on a wild pitch. 

Katie Klein (3-1) earned the victory for UWL, going 4.2 innings in relief while allowing three hits and one run with four strikeouts. The Eagles totaled seven hits as Mindrup and Stewart each finished 2-for-3. 

Cheyenne Johnson (3-4) suffered the loss for UW-Eau Claire, pitching 5.0 innings, allowing seven hits, two runs and two walks while striking out four. The Blugolds had five hits in the nightcap with Yute going 2-for-3 and one run scored. 

UWL returns to action Tuesday, April 24 hosting UW-Stevens Point at 2 p.m.