Whitewater, Wis. - The University of Wisconsin-La Crosse softball team dropped its doubleheader at UW-Whitewater Saturday afternoon, falling 9-3 in the opener and 8-6 in the nightcap. The Eagles are now 20-16 and 5-5 in the Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (WIAC) while the Warhawks improve to 29-5 overall and 6-2 in the conference.
 
UW-Whitewater, ranked 19th on this week's National Fastpitch Coaches Association (NFCA) Top-25 Poll, scored five times in the bottom of the first in Saturday's opener. Emma Giese and Grace Wickman both singled with two outs and scored on Dani Peshia's three-run home run. After Auburn Roberson walked, Claire Kohnle hit the Warhawks' second home run of the inning, extending the lead to 5-0. 

 
UWL got on the board in the top of the third inning on Lindsay Steien's solo home run, cutting the lead to 5-1. The Eagles continued the scoring in the top of the fourth inning when Maddy Bornbach hit an RBI double to score Kyra Lard to make it 5-2. Marissa Pease' RBI ground out scored Abbey Bosch later in the inning to cut the margin to 5-3.
 
The Warhawks scored three runs on three hits in the bottom of the fourth. Kaitlyn Weidemann doubled to lead-off the inning, followed by a Bella Eggert single. Ater Eggert stole second, Kiara Kostroski delivered a three-run home run to extend the lead to 8-3. Kohnle scored on an Ally Dietz' ground out in the bottom of the fifth to finish the scoring.
 
Madi Lee (4-5) suffered the loss for UWL, pitching 1.0 inning, allowing four hits, five runs and one walk while striking out three. Claire Springer went 2.0 innings, allowing three hits and three runs. Steien pitched 2.0 innings, allowing one hit, one run and one walk while Carmen Follette went 1.0 inning. The Eagles finished with six hits with Brooke Howard going 3-for-4. Bosch, Steien, and Bornbach each went 1-for-3.
 
Josie Hammen (13-1) earned the win for UW-Whitewater, pitching 4.0 innings while allowing our hits, three runs and one walk with seven strikeouts. Brooke Hock pitched 3.0 innings, allowing two hits while striking out five. The Warhawks finished with eight hits as Weidemann went 2-for-3. Kostroski and Peshia each had a three-run home run while Kohnle had a two-run home run.
 
Each team scored a run in the first inning in the nightcap. For UWL, Cristin Casey reached on an error, stole second base, and scored on a Bosch single to give the Eagles the early 1-0 lead. UW-Whitewater tied it up in the bottom of the inning with Eggert scoring on an Emma Giese single.
 
The Warhawks scored four runs in the bottom of the second. Wickman had a two-run single to make it 3-1, knocking in Eggert and Kostroski. UW-Whitewater added two more unearned runs in the inning to extend the lead to 5-1.
 
UWL cut it to 5-2 in the top of the third. Casey led-off with an infield single, stole second and scored on Lard's single. The Eagles added solo tallies in the fourth and fifth innings. In the fourth, Carly Gross led-off with a single and later scored on an Warhawks' error to make it 5-3. Nicole Zoellner's solo home run in the top of the fifth to cut the lead to 5-4.
 
UW-Whitewater took an 8-4 lead with three runs in the sixth. Belle Lapacek scored on Keira Jarrett's single for a 6-4 advantage and Kostroski added a two-run single.
 
UWL rallied in the top of the seventh. Aliyah Langrehr scored on an error to cut the lead to 8-5 and Gross came in on a Casey single to make it 8-6, but the Eagles stranded the tying runs on base to end the game.
 

Follette (2-6) suffered the loss in the nightcap, pitching 5.1 innings, allowing six hits, seven runs (five earned) and two walks while striking out two. Brynne Bieri pitched the final 0.2, allowing two hits and one run. UWL totaled 17 hits in the game with Casey going 4-for-5 with two runs. Bosch and Gross both finished 3-for-4 with Gross also scoring twice. Zoellner went 2-for-4 with a solo home run.  
 
Hock (4-1) earned the win for UW-Whitewater, pitching 3.2 innings, allowing seven hits and three runs (one earned) with two strikeouts. Hammen recorded her third save of the season, pitching 0.1 of an inning. Rhiann Dick started the game, pitching 3.0 innings, allowing 10 hits, three runs (two earned) while striking out three. UW-Whitewater finished with eight hits with Giese going 2-for-4 with an RBI and one run. Kostroski finished 1-for-2 with two RBI and one run while Wickman finished 1-for-4 with two RBI and one run.
 
UWL returns to action Wednesday, April 30 hosting UW-Stout in its regular-season home finale. Game one of the doubleheader starts at 2 p.m. at North Campus Field.