Box Score Pella, Iowa – The University of Wisconsin-La Crosse softball team defeated Lake Forest College (Ill.) 5-0 in the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division III Regional Sunday afternoon at the Kuyper Athletic Complex. The Eagles improve to 28-18 on the season and force an "if necessary" game against Lake Forest College (26-16) Sunday afternoon. The winner in game two will win the regional title and advance to next week's NCAA III Super-Regional.

Senior Caitlyn Hughes (16-4) and freshman Maddie Muelken combined for the shutout on the mound for the Eagles as Hughes earned the win and Muelken got the save. Hughes allowed just three hits and one walk while striking out three in 4.2 innings of work. Muelken came on to pitch the final 2.1 innings and gave up just one hit while striking out three for her fifth save of the season.

The contest started out as a pitchers dual as neither team was able to get much offense going over the first three innings. UWL would break through in the fourth inning as they scored three runs on four hits. Kendra Leis, Katie Block and Kathryn Vander Schaaf all drove in a run with singles to put the Eagles up 3-0. Lake Forest College (Ill.) would put a threat together in the bottom of the fifth as they had runners on first and third with two outs; however, Muelken came on and struck out the first batter she saw to end the inning.

In the seventh inning, the Eagles would add on two insurance runs to put them up 5-0. Leis recorded her third hit of the game and scored on a double by Cole. Cole then scored on a single by Block to finish the scoring. Muelken would allow a two out single in the seventh but then strikeout the final batter to seal the win for the Eagles.

As a team, the Eagles finished with ten hits as Leis (3-for-4), Cole (2-for-4) and Block (2-for-4) each had multi-hit games. Leis also finished with two runs scored and an RBI while Block drove in two runs.

Missy Dieckman-Meyer (9-9) suffered the loss on the mound for Lake Forest College (Ill.) giving up five runs on ten hits and three walks while striking out seven in 7.0 innings of work.

UWL head coach Chris Helixon recorded his 400th collegiate career win with the victory. He is 348-225 (.608) in his career at UWL and 400-309-1 (.564) in 19 years as a head coach. Helixon served as Viterbo University (Wis.) head coach from 1998-2002.