Whitewater, Wis. - The University of Wisconsin-La Crosse softball team advanced to the Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (WIAC) Tournament (presented by Culver's) Championship with a 7-3 win at UW-Whitewater Friday afternoon at van Steenderen Softball Complex. The Eagles, seeded third, improve to 27-13 on the season will play in the championship game Saturday, May 13 at 12:30 p.m. 

UWL will need one win to claim its fourth (2009, 2010, 2019) WIAC Tournament title in school history. UW-Whitewater, the top-seed, will play at 10 a.m. Saturday versus the loser of the UW-Stevens Point/UW-Oshkosh game. UW-Whitewater drops to 26-10 on the season with Friday's loss.  

UW-Whitewater, UW-Stevens Point or UW-Oshkosh needs two wins over UWL to capture the tournament title. If a second championship game is necessary it will be played Sunday, May 14 at 10 a.m. 

UWL took a 2-0 lead in the bottom of the first in its win over UW-Whitewater on Friday with back-to-back home runs from Kyra Lard and Jordyn McCormack. 

UW-Whitewater cut the lead to 2-1 in the top of the second on a pair of UWL errors. Taylor Koehler reached on an error to start the inning. She was forced out at second on Kiarra Kostroski's fielder's choice. Meghan Dunning grounded out with Kostroski advancing to second. Kostroski then scored after Ally Dietz reached on a UWL throwing error. 

The Eagles extended their lead to 3-1 in the third. Abbey Bosch was hit-by-pitch and advanced to second on a wild pitch. Lard's single moved Bosch to third. After a Warhawks' pitching change. Lard went to second on a wild pitch. McCormack followed with a run-scoring single to knock in Bosch. 

In the fifth, McCormack walked to start the inning and went to third on Anna Jensen's one-out double. Jordan Schultz then delivered a two-out three-run home run to give UWL a 6-1 lead. The Eagles added a run in the sixth with Megan Scheidt scored on a throwing error after a Bosch sacrifice bunt. 
 

UW-Whitewater scored twice in the top of the seventh on RBI singles from Maddie Koenings and Krista Sbarra, but the Warhawks left two runners on base to end the game. 

Elise Weinzierl (13-6) earned her third win of the tournament on Friday, pitching 7.0 innings, allowing four hits and three runs (none earned). She recorded three strikeouts. UWL finished with 10 hits as Lard (2-for-4), McCormack (2-for-3) and Marissa Pease (2-for-3) each had two hits. McCormack had two RBI and two runs while Schultz had a team-high three RBI. 

Maddy Anderson (6-5) took the loss for UW-Whitewater, pitching 2.0 innings, allowing five hits, three runs with one strikeout. The Warhawks were held to four hits with Koenings going 2-for-3.