Whitewater, Wis. - The University of Wisconsin-La Crosse softball team advanced to the championship game of the Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (WIAC) Championships (presented by Culver's) Saturday afternoon at UW-Whitewater's van Steenderen Complex. The Eagles won a pair of elimination games, defeating host UW-Whitewater, 8-7, and UW-Oshkosh, 6-2 in eight innings. 

UWL advances to the championship game to face UW-Eau Claire on Sunday, May 5 at 10 a.m. The Eagles would need two wins over the Blugolds to capture the tournament title and earn the WIAC's automatic bid to the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division III Championships. UW-Eau Claire is 2-0 in the championships. 

The Eagles are seeking their third league tournament title after securing the crown in 2009 and 2010. UWL has placed second on six occasions (1985, 1991, 1993, 2001, 2014, 2017).  

In the win over top-seeded UW-Whitewater, both teams scored six runs in the second inning. The Warhawks scored their six runs in the top of the inning on five hits and four Eagles' errors. Nicole Neitzel, Kayla Seymour and Kaiden Jackson each had RBI singles.

The Eagles responded in the bottom of the inning with their six runs coming on five hits and one error. Sydney Murphy had an RBI and Kathryn Vander Schaaf a run-scoring single to cut the lead to 6-2. Mia Schmidtke later hit a two-out grand slam to tie the game as all four runs were unearned. 

UW-Whitewater took a 7-6 lead in the top of hte third on Vera Pflugradt's solo home run. The Warhawks led 7-6 until the bottom of the fifth when the Eagles' Kendra Leis hit a game-tying solo home run. UWL scored the eventual winning run in the bottom of the sixth with Lou Sciortino coming in Sabrina Scardamaglia's two-out RBI single. 

The Warhawks loaded the bases with one out in the top of the seventh, but Caitlyn Hughes got the final two batters to end the game. 

Hughes (13-4) earned the win, pitching 1.1 of an inning, allowing two walks. Maddie Muelken started for UWL, going 5.0 innings, allowing three hits, one run and one walk while striking out one. Sydne Shattuck pitched 0.2 of an inning, allowing four hits, six runs (three earned) and one walk. UWL totaled nine hits as Scardamaglia, Leis and Murphy each had two. Schmidtke a game-high four RBI on the grand slam. 

Bella Matthias (13-3) took the loss for UW-Whitewater, going 4.0 innings in relief. She allowed four hits, two runs and one walk while striking out five. Julia Camardo started, pitching 2.0 innings, allowing five hits, six runs (one earned) and one walk. The Warhawks had seven hits as Seymour and Pflugradt had two. 

UWL took a 1-0 lead in the top of the first in its win over UW-Oshkosh as Schmidtke scored on Stephanie Cole's two-out single. UW-Oshkosh tied the game in the bottom of the second on a Claire Petrus solo home run. 

The game remained tied at 1-1 until the top of the seventh. The Eagles took a 2-1 lead as pinch-runner Emily Lyman scored on Scardamaglia's two-out single. Lyman was thrown out at the plate on the play, but was ruled safe after UW-Oshkosh's catcher was called for obstruction. The Titans came back in the bottom of the seventh force a 2-2 tie. Jordan Mathei's RBI single knocked in Amanda McIlhany with the tying run. 

UWL scored four times on five hits in the eighth. Shattuck doubled to start the inning and scored as Kendra Leis followed with a two-run home run and 4-2 lead. Vander Schaaf added an RBI single for a 5-2 advantage and Scardamaglia's RBI fielder's choice gave the Eagles a four-run lead. UW-Oshkosh got a two-out double from Petrus, but she was stranded.

Muelken (6-5) picked up the win, pitching 3.0 innings, allowing four hits and one run. UWL had 12 hits as Schmidtke, Shattuck and Emily Knight each had two.

Bailey Smaney (14-8) suffered the loss for UW-Oshkosh, pitching 7.0 innings, allowing nine hits, four runs (three earned) and one walk with one strikeout. The Titans had six hits with Petrus finishing 2-for-4.