Titans Shut Down Falcons
Sara Brunlieb allowed five hits in the opener and Clare Robbe seven in the nightcap as the UW-Oshkosh softball team notched shutouts in both ends of a conference doubleheader for the first time in nine years, sweeping UW-River Falls on Saturday (April 9) at the UW-Oshkosh Softball Park.
UW-Oshkosh (10-4, 2-0 WIAC) defeated UW-River Falls (7-14, 0-2 WIAC) by scores of 3-0 in the opener and 7-0 in the second contest. All 12 of the Falcons' hits on the day were singles, while the Titans pounded out 18 hits, including two doubles.
The last time UW-Oshkosh held a WIAC opponent scoreless during a doubleheader was April 22, 2007 against UW-Superior. The Titans won both of those games by 3-0 scores.
Brunlieb (5-2) lowered her earned run average to 0.89 on the season after recording her eighth career shutout. Brunlieb, who retired 10 of the last 11 Falcons batters, recorded two strikeouts without issuing a walk.
Robbe (1-1), who recorded her sixth career shutout, registered three strikeouts against one walk.
Caitlin Hoerning paced UW-Oshkosh's offense in Saturday's first contest, going 2-for-3 with two runs batted in, while Erika Berry, Abby Menting and Brianna Witter each drove in two runs in the nightcap.
In the opening game, UW-Oshkosh scored two runs on three hits in the second inning and capped the scoring with three runs on four hits in the third.
Paige Giese drove home Hoerning with the eventual winning run with a single in the second inning, and Giese came around to score on a two-out wild pitch by UW-River Falls starting pitcher Michelle LaCasse.
Menting gave UW-Oshkosh a 3-0 lead with a run-scoring bunt single in the third inning before Hoerning delivered a two-out, two-run single to provide the final score.
UW-River Falls had three of its five hits in the fourth inning, but Brunlieb kept the shutout intact by inducing a double play grounder for the first two outs and recording a strikeout with Falcons at first and second base.
LaCasse suffered the complete-game loss for UW-River Falls, yielding seven hits and two walks while striking out one.
Shannan Borchardt and Abby Veloske had two hits apiece for the Falcons.
In the second contest, UW-Oshkosh pushed across single runs in the first and second innings before putting the game away with a five-run fourth frame.
Haley Bayreuther led off the home half of the first inning by singling, stealing second base and coming in to score on a single by Berry.
A groundout by Witter plated Hoerning to give the Titans a 2-0 lead in the second inning.
UW-River Falls loaded the bases in the fourth inning on one hit and two Titan errors, but Robbe got Kaia Dorn to ground out to shortstop to end the threat.
Witter, Berry and Lauren Torborg all delivered run-scoring singles in the bottom of the fourth inning off of Falcons starting pitcher Payton Speckel. LaCasse relieved Speckel, and Menting greeted her with a double that scored Berry and Torborg with the final runs of the game.
Berry went 3-for-3 for the Titans, while Torborg and Witter added two hits apiece.
Aiyana Ledwein and Veloske led the Falcons with two hits.
Speckel suffered the loss for UW-River Falls. She was charged with all seven runs in 3.2 innings pitched.
LaCasse pitched the final 2.1 innings in scoreless fashion for the Falcons.
UW-Oshkosh, which shut out UW-River Falls for the first time since a 7-0 victory in 2008, has won seven of the last eight meetings with the Falcons.
The Titans remain at home to host UW-Stout for a doubleheader on Sunday (April 10) at the UW-Oshkosh Softball Park.