Titans Rout Blugolds To Remain Alive In WIAC Championship
Natalie Dudek and Abby Menting hit back-to-back home runs as UW-Oshkosh staved off elimination at the WIAC Softball Championship on Friday (May 5) in Whitewater.
UW-Oshkosh (30-10) suffered a 5-2 setback to UW-La Crosse in its league tournament opener, but the Titans responded with a 9-1 victory in six innings over UW-Eau Claire (27-11) to remain alive in the double-elimination championship.
The Titans reached 30 wins for the second time in three seasons and the fifth time in program history.
UW-Oshkosh, seeded third in the five-team WIAC Championship, advances to play fifth-seeded UW-Stout in an elimination game at noon Saturday (May 6).
UW-Stout (17-23) opened the tournament with an 8-3 win over fourth-seeded UW-Eau Claire. Top-seeded and tournament host UW-Whitewater then defeated UW-Stout, 12-1, in five innings.
Saturday's slate of three games begins with UW-Whitewater (34-7) facing UW-La Crosse (27-12) at 10 a.m. The final game of the day will feature the winner of UW-Oshkosh and UW-Stout facing the loser of Saturday's first game.
The WIAC tournament champion will receive the league's automatic berth to the 62-team NCAA Division III Championship that commences May 12.
In the victory over UW-Eau Claire, Dudek and Menting connected on consecutive one-out home runs in the bottom of the first inning against Blugolds starting pitcher Lauren Blasczyk. The homers were Dudek's second of the year and Menting's fifth.
Titans starting pitcher Bailey Smaney made the first-inning lead hold up as she improved her record to 6-1 on the season. Smaney went the distance, allowing one run on six hits across six innings. She struck out three and walked three.
UW-Eau Claire stranded nine baserunners, including three in the third inning and two in both the fifth and sixth frames.
Smaney escaped a base-loaded, one-out jam in the third frame by getting a pair of popups to preserve the Titans' 2-0 lead. She also limited the damage to one run in the fifth inning by stranding Blugolds at first and third bases before getting out of another first-and-third situation unscathed in the sixth frame.
UW-Oshkosh extended its lead to 3-0 in the bottom of the fourth inning as Emma Fionda delivered a two-out single that plated Erika Berry.
UW-Eau Claire trimmed its deficit to 3-1 in the top of the fifth. Darby Raffel led off the frame with an infield single, stole second base and advanced to third base on a sacrifice bunt. Following a walk, Brooke Varian's squeeze bunt allowed Raffel to score. Smaney ceded a two-out single to once again put runners at first and third bases, but a popup in foul territory ended the threat.
After Smaney, who recorded 17 of her 18 outs on the infield, got a comebacker to strand Blugold baserunners at the corners in the top of the sixth inning, UW-Oshkosh scored six runs on six hits in the home half of the sixth frame to halt the contest due to the eight-run rule.
UW-Oshkosh sent 11 batters to the plate in the sixth inning, including eight straight Titans who reached via either a hit, walk or hit-by-pitch. After a flyout to start the frame, Brianna Witter, Natalie Dillon and Emma Fionda each singled to load the bases for Dudek, who was hit by a pitch to score Witter.
Menting followed with a two-run single, and Kaitlyn Krol reached first base on a fielding error by UW-Eau Claire shortstop Evie Schaller to reload the bases. Claire Petrus then punched a single to center field to plate Dudek, and Amanda McIlhany walked to score Menting for an 8-1 Titan cushion.
Following a groundout for the second out, Witter's single to shortstop to score Petrus and gave UW-Oshkosh the walk-off victory. The Titans won each of their three meetings with UW-Eau Claire this season, including a pair of 2-1 victories on April 9 in Oshkosh.
UW-Oshkosh outhit UW-Eau Claire, 13-6. Witter went 3-for-3 while Petrus added three hits, and Fionda and Menting chipped in a pair of hits apiece.
Raffel went 2-for-2 with one walk and two stolen bases to lead the Blugolds.
Blasczyk (13-9) was charged with the loss for UW-Eau Claire after surrendering six runs on 10 hits in 5.1 innings pitched.
In the loss to UW-La Crosse, the Titans held leads of 1-0 in the first inning and 2-1 in the fourth frame, but the Eagles took the lead for good with three runs on five hits and one error during the fourth inning.
UW-Oshkosh claimed a 1-0 edge on a run-scoring groundout from Krol, but UW-La Crosse knotted the score at 1 on a two-out RBI double by Ashley Lindstrom in the bottom of the first inning.
The Titans reclaimed a 2-1 advantage in the fourth inning as Petrus hit a leadoff double and came in to score on Dudek's two-out single.
In the fateful bottom of the fourth inning, the first five Eagles batters collected singles against UW-Oshkosh starting pitcher Sara Brunlieb. One UW-La Crosse baserunner was erased at third base on a throw by Titans left fielder Lauren Torborg, but Kathryn VanderSchaaf concluded the Eagles' string of five straight singles to tie the score at 2.
With one out and the bases still loaded in the fourth frame, Jenny Gallagher drove home the eventual game-winning run with a groundout, and another Eagles baserunner came around to score on the play as a result of a throwing error by Berry, the UW-Oshkosh third baseman.
The Eagles then concluded the scoring with a two-out RBI single from Brittany Baldwin in the home half of the sixth frame.
The Titans, who had baserunners in each inning, left 10 on base, including a pair during each of the fourth, fifth and seventh innings.
Eagles starting pitcher Jessie Carignan earned the win, limiting the Titans to two runs on four hits across the first four innings. She struck out one and walked three.
UW-La Crosse relief pitcher Katie Klein, the national leader with eight saves, worked 2.1 scoreless innings before yielding to Caitlyn Hughes, who notched her first save of the year by retiring the only two batters she faced.
Lindstrom, VanderSchaaf and Sydney Murphy each recorded two of the Eagles' 10 hits.
Brunlieb took the complete-game loss for UW-Oshkosh, ceding five runs (four earned) and recording six strikeouts without issuing a walk.
Dudek and Petrus both had two of the Titans' six hits.
UW-Oshkosh swept a doubleheader against UW-Stout by scores of 1-0 and 4-3 on Sunday (April 30) in Menomonie. The Titans have won their last six meetings with the Blue Devils, including victories in the WIAC tournament in 2015 and 2016.