Whitewater, Wis. - The University of Wisconsin-La Crosse softball team advanced in the Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (WIAC) Tournament (presented by Culver's) with a 9-5 win in nine innings over UW-Oshkosh at UW-Whitewater's van Steenderen Softball Complex. The Eagles, seeded third, improves to 26-13 on the season will face host UW-Whitewater on Friday, May 12 at 2 p.m. The Warhawks, the top-seeded team in the tournament, advanced with a 3-0 victory over fourth-seeded UW-Platteville on Thursday. 

UW-Oshkosh, the second-seed, falls to 33-6 will face UW-Platteville on Friday in an elimination game at 11:30 a.m.

It was the Eagles' first win over the Titans this season after UW-Oshkosh swept a doubleheader at UWL on April 7 by the scores of 5-1 and 8-0 (six innings). 

UWL advanced to Thursday's match-up with UW-Oshkosh after a 6-2 victory over sixth-seeded UW-Eau Claire earlier in the day. 

UW-Oshkosh, ranked 21st in this week's National Fastpitch Coaches Association (NFCA) Top-25 Poll, scored four times in the bottom of the first on Thursday. Abby Garceau doubled and Hannah Ritter singled to start the inning for the Titans. Garceau scored on a Sophie Wery single for the first run of the game. Wery moved to second on a UWL error on the single. After a pair of fly-outs, Brianna Davis singled to knock in Ritter and Wery for a 3-0 lead. Haylie Wittman followed with a run-scoring single to drive in Davis to make it 4-0. 

UWL cut the margin to 4-2 with single runs in the top of the second and third innings. In the second, Madi O'Brien and Jordan Schultz singled to start the inning. Both runners advanced on Mariah Wick's sacrifice bunt and O'Brien scored on Megan Scheidt's ground out. Kyra Lard's home run in the top of the third cut the lead to 4-2. 

The Eagles cut it to 4-3 in the sixth. O'Brien singled with one out and went to second on a Titans' error. Pinch-runner Isabel Queenan then scored on a Schultz single to make it a one-run game. 

UWL rallied to take the lead with two runs in the top of the seventh as Lard singled and scored on Jordyn McCormack's two-run home run to give the Eagles their first lead of the game 5-4. 

UW-Oshkosh forced extra innings in the bottom of the seventh. Gabby Buikema tripled with one out and pinch-hitter Cali Divito delivered a run-scoring single to tie the game, 5-5. 

After a scoreless eighth, UWL tallied four runs on five hits in the top of the ninth. Abbey Bosch opened with a single and went to second on Lard's sacrifice bunt. After McCormack walked, Marissa Pease gave the Eagles a 6-5 lead on a single to knock in Bosch. O'Brien's two-out single scored McCormack for a 7-5 advantage followed by an RBI double by Schultz to score Pease and a run-scoring single from Wick to knock in O'Brien for a 9-5 lead. 
 

Elise Weinzierl (12-6) earned the win, pitching 3.0 innings, allowing two hits and one run. She also earned the victory in the Eagles' win over UW-Eau Claire. Remington Stark started versus UW-Oshkosh, going 1.0 inning, allowing five hits and four uns (one earned). Ally Eden went 5.0 innings, allowing seven hits and one walk with one strikeout. 

The Eagles finished with 16 hits in the win as seven starters recorded a hit. Schultz went 4-for-5 with two RBI while Lard finished 3-for-4 with two runs and an RBI. Pease and O'Brien each went 3-for-5 with Pease finishing with one run and one RBI and O'Brien two runs and an RBI. McCormack had two RBI and scored twice. 

Sydney Nemetz (14-3) took the loss for UW-Oshkosh. She pitched 4.2 innings, allowing 10 hits, seven runs (six earned) and one walk while striking out four. 

The Titans had 14 hits with Garceau and Buikema each going 3-for-5. Davis and Wittman finished 2-for-4.