Pella, Iowa - The University of Wisconsin-La Crosse softball team earned a 7-4 win over The College of Saint Benedict (Minn.) in the first round of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division III Regional on Friday afternoon at Central College (Iowa). UWL improves to 26-17 on the season and will face the winner of Lake Forest College (Ill.)/Central (Iowa) on Saturday, May 11 at 11 a.m. Saint Benedict (Minn.) drops to 27-14 on the season will play the loser of Lake Forest (Ill.)/Central (Iowa) on May 11 at 1:30 p.m.

The regional follows a double elimination format and continues through Sunday, May 12.  UWL is making its sixth career appearance in the NCAA III Championships, including fifth under 14th-year head coach Chris Helixon.  The Eagles hosted the NCAA III Regional in 2017, finishing 2-2.  UWL went 0-2 in the 2009 regional at Simpson College (Iowa), 2-2 in 2010 at UW-Whitewater and 1-2 in 2011 at UW-Eau Claire.  UWL's first appearance in the national tournament was in 1986 when the team finished 2-2 at the UW-Whitewater Regional.  

UWL took a 2-0 lead Friday in the top of the first. Sabrina Scardamaglia singled to start the game and advanced to second on a groundout. After a strikeout, Kendra Leis singled through the left side in advancing Scardamaglia to third. Stephanie Cole followed with an RBI single to knock in Scardamaglia with the game's first run. Leis then scored an unearned run on a Saint Benedict (Minn.) fielding error off the bat of Katie Block. 

The Eagles added to their lead in the top of the second. Scardamaglia singled with two outs, stole second and scored on Mia Schmidtke's two-run home run to make it 4-0. It was Schmidtke's 11th home run of the season, tying the single-season school record set by Liz Bradley in 2008.

Saint Benedict (Minn.) cut the lead to 4-1 in the bottom half of the third as Olivia McCabe scored on Claire Boatman's groundout. McCabe had singled to start the inning and went to third on Kate Deming's single. Both runners advanced a base on Mo Burns' sacrifice bunt before Boatman's RBI groundout. 

CSB tied the game in the bottom of the fifth with three runs on three hits and one Eagles' error. Deming's two-run single scored Alex Smith and McCabe to cut UWL's lead to 4-3. Deming later scored an unearned run to tie the game on Boatman's groundout.  

UWL scored three unearned runs in the top of the seventh to secure the victory. Scardagmaglia reached on a one-out error, advanced to second on a passed ball and to third on a wild pitch. After Schmidtke walked and replaced by pinch-runner Emily Lyman, Sydne Shattuck singled to right field to score Scardamaglia with an unearned run to make it 5-4. Lyman advanced to third on Leis' fly out to right field for the second out. Cole walked to load the bases and Block followed with another walk to score a run for a 6-4 lead. Shattuck then scored on Sydney Murphy's infield single for a three-run lead.  

Caitlyn Hughes (14-4) earned the win, going 2.0 innings in relief. She allowed one hit and one walk with three strikeouts. Maddie Muelken started for the Eagles, pitching 4.0 innings, allowign five hits and two runs while striking out one. Shattuck went 1.0 inning, allowing two hits and two runs (one earned). UWL had 10 hits in the game with Scardamaglia and Shattuck each finishing 2-for-4. Scardamaglia scored three runs. Eight starters had a hit. 

Ally Hjort (15-5) took the loss for Saint Benedict (Minn.), pitching 6.1 innings, allowing nine hits, seven runs (three earned) and one walk with four strikeouts. CSB had eight hits with McCabe finishing 3-for-3 with two runs. Deming had two hits.