Titans Have Mixed Results On Opening Day

Abby Menting collected five hits and three runs batted in as the UW-Oshkosh softball team split a pair of season-opening games on Friday (Feb. 26) in Marquette, Mich.

UW-Oshkosh (1-1), ranked 25th in the NCAA Division III by the National Fastpitch Coaches Association, began the season with a 7-3 victory over Alverno College before suffering an 11-4 defeat against Simpson College (Iowa).

Against Alverno College (0-1), Menting went 3-for-3, finishing a single shy of a cycle, in her collegiate debut. She collected a double in the second inning, a triple in the third and a two-run home run in the fifth.

UW-Oshkosh scored in the bottom of the first inning and added three runs in both the second and fifth frames.

Haley Bayreuther led off the Titans' season with a triple, and Erika Berry followed with a run-scoring groundout.

After Alverno College tied the score at 1 in the top of the second inning, UW-Oshkosh took the lead for good on a two-out, three-run home run by Caitlin Hoerning in the bottom of the frame.

Kaitlyn Krol (1-0) pitched the first five innings to earn the win for UW-Oshkosh. She allowed three runs on six hits and notched three strikeouts.

Paige Giese relieved Krol and tossed two perfect innings with four strikeouts.

Olivia Schneider suffered the loss in the pitcher's circle for the Inferno. She went all six innings, ceding eight hits and three walks while recording four strikeouts.

Kristin Holub led the Alverno College offense, going 2-for-3 with one run and one RBI.

In the setback to Simpson College (1-0), UW-Oshkosh committed four errors and the Storm registered 17 hits, including three home runs, against three Titan pitchers.

Simpson College leadoff hitter Tori Haag went 3-for-4 with three runs batted in and three runs scored. Grace Hall, the second batter in the Storm lineup, added three hits, two runs and one run batted in.

Simpson College struck for three runs in the top of the first inning on a leadoff home run by Haag, and RBIs by Rachel Guessford and Abbie VanVleet.

UW-Oshkosh answered with a pair of runs in the home half of the first innng, but the Storm put the game away with a four runs on three hits in the third inning. Haag provided the key hit with a two-run single.

The Titans cut their deficit to 7-4 with a pair of runs in the fourth inning, but Simpson College answered with two runs in the fifth and single runs in the sixth and seventh on home runs by Brianna Chaplin and Guessford.

Riley Fisher pitched a complete game for the Storm, allowing six hits and two walks and striking out six.

Hoerning and Menting led the Titans with two hits apiece. A single by Menting in the first inning allowed Hayden Krueger to score her 100th career run.

Sara Brunlieb (0-1) was saddled with the loss for the Titans after yielding seven runs (five earned) on 1 hits in 2.2 innings pitched.

UW-Oshkosh remains in Marquette to play Concordia University Wisconsin on Saturday (Feb. 27).