La Crosse, Wis. - The University of Wisconsin-La Crosse softball team fell, 8-7, to UW-Eau Claire Sunday afternoon in the Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (WIAC) Championship game (presented by Culver's) at North Campus Field. The Eagles drop to 27-10 on the season while the Blugolds improve to 26-9.

With the win, UW-Eau Claire secures the WIAC's automatic bid to the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division III Championships. UWL will await word if it has earned one of 19 at-large bids to the national championships. The 2022 field will be announced Monday, May 9 at noon.  UWL is seventh in this week's regional rankings.

The NCAA III Championship provides for a field of 62 teams. Four teams each will compete at 15 regional sites, and two teams will compete at one regional site in a double-elimination tournament. The 16 teams advancing from regionals will compete in a two-team, best-of-three tournament at eight super regional sites. Regionals will begin Thursday, May 12 or Friday, May 13 with Super Regionals scheduled for May 20-21. The NCAA III Championships will be held May 26-31 in Salem, Virginia.  UW-Eau Claire scored four unearned runs in the bottom of the second Sunday. Maria Back reached on a UWL throwing error with one out and went to third on Madi Zerr's single. Zerr was replaced by pinch-runner Jayden Hodgs. A groundout moved Hodgs to second with two outs. Megan Patter followed with an RBI single to score Back with the first run of the game. Patter advanced to second on the throw. Shaelyn Tall's two-run single knocked in Hodgs and Patter to give UW-Eau Claire a 3-0 lead. Tall advanced to second on the throw and scored on Megan Maruna's single to make it 4-0. 

UWL cut the lead to 4-2 in the top of the third. Mariah Wick led-off with a walk and went to second on Megan Scheidt's sacrifice bunt. After a line-out, Jordyn McCormack hit an RBI single to score Wick to get the Eagles on the board. McCormack went to second on the throw. Kendra Leis followed with a run-scoring single knocking in McCormack to make it a two-run game. 

The Blugolds extended their lead to 5-2 in the bottom of the third on Sadie Erickson's solo home run. 

The Eagles tallied two runs in the top of the fourth to make it a one-run game. Hailey Jibben walked to lead-off the inning and replaced by pinch-runner Emily Lyman. Anna Jensen's single advanced Lyman to second. Wick followed with a bunt single to load the bases. After a strikeout, Kyra Lard's single scored Lyman to get the Eagles on the board. Leis later hit a two-out single to knock in Jensen and cut the lead to two. 

UWL scored a pair of runs for the third straight inning with two in the top of the fifth to take a 6-5 lead. Ellie Yaeger reached on a Blugolds' error to start the inning, but was forced at second on Jibben's fielder's choice. Jensen reached on a throwing error on a sacrifice bunt as Jibben went to third. Pinch-hitter Lauren Winkler's RBI groundout scored Jibben with an unearned run and tie the game at 5-5. Scheidt followed with a bunt single with Jensen going to third. After Scheidt stole second, Lard's RBI single scored Jensen to give UWL a 6-5 lead.

The game was delayed for 32 minutes at the start of the sixth inning due to rain. The Eagles took a 7-6 lead in the top of the seventh. Jensen singled to start the inning and went to second on Wick's sacrifice bunt. Scheidt followed with a single moving Jensen to third. Lard's single scored Jensen to give UWL a one-run lead. UW-Eau Claire's Lauren Gamme came into pitch and retired the next two batters to end the inning.  

UW-Eau Claire rallied with two runs in the bottom of the seventh. Maruna doubled with one out followed by a walk to Kenna Strunsee. Both runners advanced on a wild pitch. Erickson was walked to load the bases. Ellie Decker's infield single scored Maruna with the tying run. Back then reached on a fielder's choice to third with Strunsee scoring the winning run. 

Elise Weinzierl (13-3) suffered the loss, pitching 3.1 innings, allowing six hits, six runs (two earned) and two walks while striking out three. UWL finished with 13 hits with Lard going 4-for-5 with three RBI. Jensen, Leis and Scheidt each had two hits with Jensen scoring three times and Leis adding two RBI. 

Gamme (4-3) earned the win for UW-Eau Claire. She went 0.2 of an inning with one strikeout. Madi Zerr pitched 4.0 innings, allowing seven hits, four runs and three walks while striking out three. The Blugolds had eight hits as Maruna went 3-for-4 with a run and RBI. Decker finished with two hits and two RBI while Erickson scored twice. Talley also had two RBI.