West St. Paul, Minn. - The University of Wisconsin-La Crosse softball team split a doubleheader with St. Catherine University (Minn.) Friday afternoon at the West St. Paul Dome. The Wildcats took the opener, 3-1, before the Eagles came back to win the nightcap, 6-3. UWL is now 2-2 on the season while St. Catherine (Minn.) is 8-2.
In the opener, St. Catherine (Minn.) took a 2-0 lead in the bottom of the first on Angela Huepfel's RBI single and Alyssa Montero's RBI groundout. UWL cut the lead to 2-1 in the top of the second as
Kendra Leis singled and later scored on
Katie Block's RBI triple.
The Wildcats came back in the bottom of the second for a 4-1 lead as Alex Ehde walked with the bases-loaded and Mikayla Grant had a run-scoring groundout.
UWL finished with five hits in the opener with Leis going 2-for-2.
Sydne Shattuck (0-1) took the loss for the Eagles, pitching 6.0 innings, allowing nine hits, four runs and three walks with two strikeouts.
St. Catherine (Minn.) had nine hits with Ehde and Lindsay Burr each finishing with two. Kathryn Proper (5-0) earned the complete-game win, going 7.0 innings, allowing five hits, one run and two walks with 12 strikeouts.
Taylor Brunn's single in the top of the second inning gave St. Catherine (Minn.) a 1-0 lead in the nightcap Friday. Montero scored on an UWL error in the top of the third for a 2-0 lead. UWL took a 3-2 lead in the bottom of the third. A two-run single from Leis tied the game, scoring
Mia Schmidtke and Shattuck.
Stephanie Cole followed with an RBI single to knock in Leis to give the Eagles a one-run lead.
St. Catherine (Minn.) tied the game at 3-3 in the top of the fourth on Burr's single, but UWL responded with three runs in the bottom of the frame. Schmidtke's solo home run gave the Eagles a 4-3 lead and after a Shattuck double, Leis hit a two-run home run to make it 6-3.
Maddie Muelken (2-1) earned the complete-game victory. She pitched 7.0 innings, allowing nine hits, three runs and three walks while striking out four. The Eagles had nine hits with Schmidtke finishing 3-for-4 with two runs and one RBI. Shattuck and Leis each went 2-for-2 with Shattuck finishing with one walk while Leis scored twice and had four RBI.
Annabelle Schutte (0-1) suffered the loss, pitching 2.0 innings, allowing five hits, three unearned run and four walks. The Wildcats also finished with nine hits. Burr and Hannah Fry each had two.
