Box Score Whitewater, Wis. – The University of Wisconsin-La Crosse softball team dropped its opening round game of the Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (WIAC) Softball Championship (presented by Culver's) to UW-Oshkosh, 13-4. Friday morning at van Steenderen Softball Complex.

The loss drops the Eagles to 20-17 on the year while the Titans improve to 22-15 overall. UWL will now play the loser of the UW-Eau Claire and UW-Platteville in an elimination game at 4 p.m. today. UW-Oshkosh will play number one seed UW-Whitewater at 2 p.m.

UW-Oshkosh got a home run from Natalie Kudek to give them a 1-0 lead in the top of the second inning. Kendra Leis would tie the game up in the Eagles' half of the second inning as she hit her third home run of the season. The Titans would then score two runs in the third inning on four hits to take a 3-1 lead.

Mia Schmidtke led off the fourth inning for the Eagles with a walk and advanced to second on a single by Sydne Shattuck.  Schmidtke scored on a single by Leis while Emily Lyman, pinch running for Shattuck, scored on a single by Katie Block to tie the game at 3-3. UWL took a 4-3 lead in the fifth inning on a home run by Sabrina Scardamaglia.

The score would remain 4-3 until the seventh inning when UW-Oshkosh scored 10 runs on seven hits and one error to give them a 13-4 lead. UWL would be limited to one hit in the bottom of the inning.

Shattuck (4-7) suffered the loss for UWL as she came on in relief and allowed eight runs on seven hits and three walks while walking one in 3.2 innings. Caitlyn Hughes started for the Eagles, going 3.1 innings and giving up five runs on seven hits while striking out three. Leis finished the contest 3-for-3 with two RBI and one run to lead the Eagle offense while Scardamaglia finished 1-for-4 with the home run.

Claire Petrus (9-8) earned the win for UW-Oshkosh as she allowed one run on three hits and one walk in 3.0 innings of relief. Emma Flonda finished 3-for-4 with two runs and an RBI.

The championship winner will be declared the conference champion and earn the league's automatic bid to the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division III Tournament.  The NCAA Division III Regionals will be held Friday, May 10 through Sunday, May 12 with the NCAA Division III Super Regionals scheduled for Friday, May 17 through Saturday, May 19.  The NCAA Division III Championships are Thursday, May 23 through Tuesday, May 28 in Tyler, Texas.