La Crosse, Wis. - The University of Wisconsin-La Crosse softball team earned a doubleheader sweep of Milwaukee School of Engineering (Wis.) in its home opener Friday afternoon at North Campus Field. The Eagles earned a 5-1 win in the opener and 9-0 in five innings in the nightcap.
UWL improves to 15-9 while MSOE (Wis.) drops to 3-11.
Brynne Bieri earned the win in the opener.
The Raiders took a 1-0 lead in the top of the first in the opener with an unearned run. Jenna O'Donnell reached on an error with one out and went to second as Autumn Sadler reached another Eagles' error. Jayda Nelson's single loaded the bases and after a strikeout, O'Donnell scored on a passed ball.
In the bottom of the third, UWL took a 2-1 lead.
Marissa Pease singled with one out and advanced to second on a
Carly Gross single. Pease scored on an MSOE (Wis.) error to cut it to 2-1.
Brooke Howard's triple scored
Amber Gonzalez to tie the game.
Abbey Bosch singled to start the fourth inning for UWL and replaced by pinch-runner
Cristin Casey, who stole second and scored on a
Maddy Bornbach double to give the Eagles a 3-1 lead. UWL extended the lead to 5-1 in the bottom of the fifth on
Lindsay Steien single knocking in Howard and Bosch.
Brynne Bieri (3-2) earned the win, pitching 4.0 innings, allowing three hits and one run (unearned) while recording three strikeouts.
Carmen Follette recorded her fourth save, going 2.0 innings, allowing two hits and one walk. Bosch went 3-for-3 while Pease went 2-for-3 with one run. Steien finished 1-for-2 with two RBI.
Lindsay Steien went 3-for-5 with two RBI.
Marissa Collazo (0-1) took the loss for MSOE (Wis.), pitching 4.0 innings, allowing seven hits, three runs and one walk with one strikeout. Five players recorded a hit for the Raiders.
UWL got the scoring started in the nightcap with a pair of runs in the bottom of the first. Howard singled with one out followed by a
Kyra Lard walk. Bosch's two-run double scored both runners to make it 2-0.
The Eagles tallied five runs in the bottom of the second. Steien scored on an error for a 3-0 lead. Howard's single knocked in Gross and Lard's RBI single scored Howard to make it 5-0. Bornbach finished the scoring with a two-run double.
Bornbach's single in the bottom of the fourth scored Lard for a 6-0 lead and Bornbach later came in on a wild pitch.
Kaeley Niemiec (6-2) earned the complete-game win, pitching 5.0 innings, allowing four hits while striking out eight. Bornbach finished 3-for-3 with four RBI with Lard finishing 2-for-2 with three runs. Bosch finished 2-for-3 with two runs.
Maddy Bornbach finished 4-for-6 with five RBI.
Katie Pollack (2-6) took the loss for the Raiders, pitching 4.0 innings, allowing 13 hits, nine runs and one walk with three strikeouts. Nelson finished 2-for-2 for MSOE (Wis.).
UWL returns to action Wednesday, April 9 with a non-conference doubleheader at Saint Mary's University (Minn.) starting at 3 p.m.
