La Crosse, Wis. – The University of Wisconsin-La Crosse softball team suffered a 9-3 defeat to UW-Eau Claire in the winner's bracket of the Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (WIAC) Tournament (presented by Culver's) Saturday at North Campus Field.

The loss drops the Eagles, the tournament's top-seed, to 26-9 overall and snaps their 14-game winning streak. The Blugolds, seeded third, improve to 24-9 and advance to play in Sunday's championship game. UWL will play an elimination game Saturday afternoon against second-seeded UW-Oshkosh.

UWL's offense got going right away in the first inning as Kyra Lard led off with a walk. After a fly out, Kendra Leis tripled to right field to score Lard. Hailey Jibben then drove in Leis with a ground out to second base to give the Eagles an early 2-0 lead. UW-Eau Claire would go down in order in the bottom of the first inning and UWL would strike again in the top of the second. Megan Scheidt hit a two-out solo home run, her first in her career, to give UWL a 3-0 lead.
 
UW-Eau Claire would threaten in the bottom of the second as the first two batters reached via singles, but Elise Weinzierl would force a fielder's choice and double play to get out of the jam. The Blugolds broke through in the third, scoring three runs on four hits to tie the game at 3-3. Megan Maruna's single scored Shaelyn Talley to cut the lead to 3-1 and Kenna Strunsee tied the game with a two-run home run.

UW-Eau Claire scored four runs on three hits and an error in the bottom of the fourth. Maruna hit a three-run home run to give the Blugolds a 7-3 lead. UWL threatened in the sixth inning, getting three straight two-out singles to load the bases, but UW-Eau Claire's Jacie Schultz got a ground out to first to end the inning. The Blugolds extended their lead to 9-3 in the bottom of the sixth on Strunsee RBI single and Sadie Erickson run-scoring double. 

Lard led off the seventh with a double for UWL but Lauren Gamme retired the next three hitters to end the game.

Remington Stark (9-3) suffered the loss on the mound for the Eagles as she allowed four runs on four hits and a walk while striking out one in 0.2. Weinzierl started for UWL, allowing two runs on four hits while striking out three in 2.1 innings.

As a team, the Eagles finished with nine hits. Ellie Yaeger went 2-for-3.

Jacie Schultz (11-2) earned the win for UW-Eau Claire, allowing no runs on five hits while striking out two in 4.0 innings of work. The Blugolds finished with 13 hits and were led by Maruna who finished 3-for-4 with four RBI and three runs. Strunsee went 2-for-4 with three RBI and two runs while Ellie Decker and Talley each had two hits.

The WIAC Championship follows a double elimination format.  The championship winner will be declared the conference champion and earn the league's automatic bid to the NCAA Division III Tournament.  The NCAA Division III Regionals will be held Thursday, May 12 through Sunday, May 15 with the NCAA Division III Super Regionals scheduled for Friday, May 20 through Sunday, May 22. 

The NCAA Division III Championships are Thursday, May 26 through Monday, May 30 in Salem, Virginia.