Whitewater, Wis. - The University of Wisconsin-La Crosse softball team concluded its regular season with a doubleheader split at 24th-ranked UW-Whitewater Saturday at van Steenderen Complex. The Warhawks, ranked 24th on the National Fastpitch Coaches Association (NFCA) Top-25 Poll, took the opener, 3-2 in 13 innings, while the Eagles came back to win the nightcap, 11-1 in five innings. 

UWL is now 24-13 overall and 9-5 in the Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference while UW-Whitewater is 25-9 overall and 11-3 in the conference. 

UWL is the third-seed for the WIAC Tournament (presented by Culver's) and will play at 11:30 a.m. on Thursday, May 11. The Eagles will face the sixth-seed, either UW-Eau Claire, UW-Stevens Point or UW-Stout. The sixth-seed will be determined on Sunday. UW-Whitewater won the league's regular-season title and will host the WIAC Tournament. 

In the opener on Saturday, the Warhawks took a 2-0 lead in the bottom of the third with both runs coming with two outs. Maggie Ward singled and scored on Grace Wickman's double to make it 1-0. Taylor Koehler followed with a single to knock in Wickman for a 2-0 lead. 

 

UWL tied the game in the top of the sixth. Kyra Lard singled with one out and stole second. After a groundout moved Lard to third, Marissa Pease hit a two-run home run to tie the game. 

The game remained tied until the bottom of the 13th. Ward had a bunt single to start the inning and went to second on Wickman's sacrifice bunt. She advanced to third on Koehler's fly-out to left field and scored the winning run on a Kiarra Kostroski single. 

Remington Stark (4-3) took the loss for UWL, pitching 5.2 innings, allowing five hits and one run with one strikeout. Elise Weinzierl started for the Eagles, going 7.0 innings, allowing six hits, two runs and one walk while striking out five. UWL had six hits in the opener with Anna Jensen going 2-for-5. 

It marked UWL's longest game since a 4-3 victory over UW-Oshkosh in 12 innings on April 13, 2003.

Brooke Hock (12-1) picked up the victory for UW-Whitewater. She went 4.2 innings in relief, allowing one hit and two walks with four strikeouts. Maddy Anderson started, pitching 8.1 innings, allowing five hits, two runs and one walk with five strikeouts. The Warhawks had 11 hits as Wickman finished 4-for-5 and Ward 3-for-6 with two runs.

UWL started fast in the nightcap, scoring twice in the top of the first. Lard walked with one out and scored on a Pease two-out double with the game's first run. Jensen followed with an RBI single to score Pease to make it 2-0. 

UW-Whitewater cut the deficit to 2-1 in the bottom of the inning on a Koehler groundout, but UWL scored three times in the top of the second to take a 5-1 lead on Jordyn McCormack's three-run double scoring Jordan Schultz, Mariah Wick and Lard. 

The Eagles added three runs in the fourth and fifth innings. In the fourth, Lard doubled to score Abbey Bosch to make it 6-1 and McCormack hit a two-run home run to extend it to 8-1. Lard had an RBI single and McCormack a two-run double in the fifth. 

Ally Eden (7-3) earned the win, pitching 4.0 innings, allowing four hits, one run and two walks while striking out one. Madi Lee pitched 1.0 inning, allowing one hit with a strikeout. UWL had 13 hits in the game as Lard went 3-for-3 with four runs, two RBI and a walk. McCormack finished 3-for-4 with seven RBI, tying the single-game school record set by Rochell Vandenlangenberg against UW-Superior on April 14, 1994 and Beth Gordon versus MSOE (Wis.) on April 13, 2001.

Rhiann Dick (5-1) took the loss for UW-Whitewater. She went 1.2 innings, allowing five hits, five runs (two earned) and one walk while striking out three. The Warhawks had five hits with Wickman finishing 3-for-3.