Titans Settle For Season-Opening Split

Katie Koepsel (Fr. • Oak Creek) homered in each contest as the UW-Oshkosh women's softball team opened the 2012 season with mixed results on Saturday (Feb. 25) in Marquette, Mich.

UW-Oshkosh posted a 3-1 victory over Hope College (Mich.) in the opener before suffering a 4-2 loss to Carthage College in the nightcap.

The Titans (1-1) started the season in exciting fashion as Julia Burns (Sr. • Verona) blasted a two-run home run in the first inning of their game with Hope College (0-4). Burns drove in Tess Fadness (So. • Eau Claire), who belted a two-out double in the preceding at-bat.

UW-Oshkosh extended its lead to 3-0 on Koepsel's lead-off home run in the fourth inning. Her smash chased Hope College pitching starter Olivia Vacik from the contest.

Hope College went without a run in the bottom half of the fourth inning after loading the bases. UW-Oshkosh starting pitcher Courtney Wautier (Jr. • Brussels) allowed singles to Stephanie Faber and Jess Kohlhoff in the inning, but retired Kelsey Cooper on a fly out to end the frame.

The game remained quiet until the Hope College seventh inning. The Flying Dutch tallied four singles in the inning, including a two-out, run-scoring hit by Brooke Nienhuis. Wautier ended the threat by getting Laura Tjepkema to pop out with runners on first and second base.

UW-Oshkosh had five players record one hit. Wautier earned the complete-game pitching victory after allowing seven hits and striking out five batters.

Hope College's seven hits included two by Faber. The Flying Dutch had three players take to the mound, including Vacik who yielded four hits and all three runs during her three innings of work.

In the second game, Carthage College (4-0) took a 1-0 lead over UW-Oshkosh on Alyssa Schrader's run-scoring single in the first inning.

The Titans went ahead 2-1 in the second inning on back-to-back home runs by Koepsel and Julie Sweeney (Fr. • Arlington Heights, Ill.). Carthage College then tied the score, 2-2, on a run-scoring single by Katie Morman in the fifth inning.

The Lady Reds broke the deadlock when pinch-hitter Amy Slattery smacked a one-out, two-run home run off Wautier in the sixth inning. Wautier entered the game as a replacement for Sweeney in the fifth inning.

UW-Oshkosh had seven players tally one hit each, with Burns also adding a double. Carthage College totaled seven hits, including three by Morman and the home run by Slattery.

Sweeney pitched the first 4.2 innings for UW-Oshkosh and allowed four hits and two runs. Wautier hurled the final 2.1 innings and yielded two runs and three hits.

The pitching win went to the Lady Reds' Krystina Leazer, who worked the final four innings and blanked UW-Oshkosh on three hits. Leazer compiled eight strikeouts. Alyssa Sirocchi went the first three innings for Carthage College and allowed two runs and four hits.

UW-Oshkosh takes to the diamond against Simpson College (Iowa) and The College of St. Scholastica (Minn.) on Sunday (Feb. 26) in Marquette, Mich.