Whitewater, Wis. – The University of Wisconsin-La Crosse softball team defeated UW-Platteville, 5-1, in an elimination game at the Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (WIAC) Championships (Presented by Culver's) Friday night at van Steenderen Complex.

The win moves UWL to 21-17 on the season and advances the Eagles to face number-one seed UW-Whitewater in an elimination game at noon on Saturday, May 4. UW-Platteville ends its season at 18-20.  

UW-Whitewater was defeated in its first game of the tournament Friday by UW-Oshkosh, 7-2. UW-Eau Claire and UW-Oshkosh will play at 10 a.m. Saturday in the winner's bracket of the tournament with the loser facing the winner of the UWL vs. UW-Whitewater game at 2 p.m.

The Eagles' offense got going right away in the first inning in the victory over the Pioneers Friday, scoring three runs on four hits in the opening frame. Sabrina Scardamaglia led-off the game with a double and advanced to third on a single by Mia Schmidtke. Kendra Leis drove in Scardamaglia with a single while Schmidtke scored on sacrifice bunt by Stephanie Cole. Leis then scored on a single by Sydney Murphy to put the Eagles up 3-0 in the first inning.

Sydne Shattuck would drive in a run with a single in the second inning to give UWL a 4-0 lead after two innings. Leis hit her second home run of the day in the third inning and fourth of the season to give the Eagles a 5-0 advantage.  The score would remain 5-0 until the seventh inning when UW-Platteville got on the scoreboard. The Pioneers opened the inning with a walk, single and sacrifice bunt. Riley Kelsch followed with an RBI single, but UWL's defense forced back-to-back fielder's choice to limit any more damage.

Maddie Muelken (5-5) earned the win on the mound for UWL as she gave up six hits and one walk while striking out three in 7.0 innings of work. Caitlyn Hughes came on in relief for the Eagles, but gave up a run on a walk and a hit before Muelken came back into the game to finish the game. Scardamaglia, Schmidtke, Leis and Cole all finished with two hits apiece as UWL totaled 12. Leis also finished with two runs and two RBI.

Ashton Hoeppner (8-10) suffered the loss for the Pioneers as she allowed five runs on seven hits in 2.0 innings of work. Kelsch led the Pioneers, going 3-for-4 with 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.