Clermont, Fla. - The University of Wisconsin-La Crosse softball team split two games on Monday, falling 7-0 to the University of Chicago (Ill.) before a 14-13 win in nine innings over SUNY Cortland.
 
UWL is now 10-4 on the season.
 
Chicago (Ill.) stranded a runner on second with no outs in the top of the first. UWL's Brooke Howard singles and stole second in the bottom of the inning. She went to third on Abbey Bosch's single, but the runners were stranded to end the inning.
 

The game remained scoreless until the top of the fifth when the Maroons took a 1-0 lead on Paige Zvokel's RBI ground out scoring Mia Bochian. Chicago (Ill.) led 2-0 in the sixth inning as Sedona Ding scored on a UWL error. Madelyn Murphy scored on an Audrey Hui single and Hui later scored on Zvokel's single for a 4-0 lead.
 
The Maroons added three runs on five hits in the top of the seventh.
 
Carmen Follette (2-1) took the loss for the Eagles. She pitched 7.0 innings, giving up four runs (three earned) and three walks while recording seven strikeouts in the game. Howard led the Eagles, going 2-for-3 with a stolen base.
 
Paige Heffke (3-2) earned the win for Chicago (Ill.). She pitched a complete-game shutout, going 7.0 innings, allowing six hits and one walk while striking out eight. Ding led the Maroons with three hits and stolen bases with two runs. Murphy and Matilda Nelson each recorded two hits.
 
In game two versus SUNY-Cortland, UWL would get the bats going right away. Howard singled followed by an RBI double from Kyra Lard with the game's first run. Bosch singled up the middle moving Lard to third with no outs. Maddy Bornbach grounded out to first base scoring Lard followed by a sacrifice fly from Lindsay Steien scoring Bosch making it 3-0. Kaeley Niemiec would pitch a perfect bottom of the first giving the Eagles a 3-0 lead after one inning.
 
The Eagles would strike again in the top of the second with an RBI single from Lard scoring Howard. Two batters later, Bornbach singled knocking in Lard for a 5-0 lead. Nicole Zoellner rounded out the scoring in the inning with a sacrifice fly to score Bosch to make it 6-0.
 
In the top of the fourth, the Eagles added to their lead with Cristin Casey stealing home for a 7-0 advantage. The Red Dragons got on the scoreboard with a two-run single from McKenna Barry to cut their deficit to 7-2 after four innings.
 
UWL expanded its lead with a two-run single from Lard, followed by an RBI triple from Bosch to make it 10-2. SUNY Cortland responded by loading the bases with no outs in the bottom of the fifth. A four-pitch walk from Halle Wright made it 10-3. The Red Dragons scored three more runs on two fielder's choices and a sacrifice fly from Barry scoring Kaeli McAnally tightening the deficit to 10-6 after five innings.
 
Carly Gross' RBI ground out in the top of the sixth gave UWL an 11-6 lead. In the bottom half of the inning, SUNY Cortland scored on a walk by Wright followed by a two-run single from Shannon Scotto to cut the lead to 11-9. Barry's sacrifice fly made it 11-10. A pinch-hit single by Shelby LaMont tied to game at 11-11 after six innings.
 
Lard hit a lead-off double in the top of the seventh and two batters later, Bornbach singled to shortstop. UWL regained the lead on an SUNY Cortland error making it 12-11. In the bottom of the seventh, the Red Dragons tied the game on Scott's two-out single to force extra innings.
 
In the top of the eighth, Gross delivered a two-out single on a full count to score Zoellner to give UWL a 13-12 lead. SUNY Cortland tied the game in the bottom of the inning as Pendergas scored on an error with two outs.
 
Bornbach's infield single with two outs scored Howard with the eventual game-winning run to make it 14-13. The Red Dragons went down in order with Kaeley Niemiec recording two strikeouts.
 
Niemiec (3-1) earned the win for UWL, pitching 7.0 innings, allowing four runs (one earned) and three hits while walking four. Lard went 4-for-6 with four RBI and four runs while Bornbach went 4-for-5 with three RBI. Bosch recorded three hits in the game.
 
Gianna Endieveri (0-1) suffered the loss for SUNY Cortland. She went 4.2 innings, giving up four unearned runs and six hits with two walks. Lainie Ornstein led the Red Dragons going 3-for-6 with two runs. Scotto recorded two hits and four RBI in the game.
 
UWL returns to action Wednesday, March 19 against Ramapo College (N.J.) at 1 p.m. (Central) and Rutgers University-Camden (N.J.) at 3:15 p.m. (Central).