Titans Give Knights First Loss Of Season
Claire Petrus pitched a six-hit shutout and Natalie Dudek drove in a pair of runs as the nationally ranked UW-Oshkosh softball team handed Calvin College (Mich.) its first loss of the year with a 5-0 decision Tuesday (March 20) in Clermont, Fla.
UW-Oshkosh (11-4), ranked 25th in the NCAA Division III by the National Fastpitch Coaches Association, scored once in both the first and third innings before tacking on three runs in the bottom of the sixth frame.
Calvin College (8-1) went into the contest second in the country with a 0.51 earned run average.
The Titans outhit Calvin College, 7-6, and collected three doubles against a Knights pitching staff that had surrendered just one extra-base hit through their first eight games. UW-Oshkosh entered the day 11th nationally with 2.75 doubles per game.
Petrus (7-1) notched her second shutout of the season and the third of her career by limiting Calvin College to five singles and a double. Petrus, who walked one and struck out one on the way to improving her career record to 13-2, pitched around leadoff singles in the second, fourth and sixth innings while lowering her earned run average to 1.78 on the season.
Kailee Garstecki went 2-for-3 with one run batted in for the Titans, who received doubles from Dudek, Carly Szada and Acacia Tupa.
Calvin College starting pitcher Ellie Borst (4-1) was charged with the loss after yielding five runs on six hits in five-plus innings. She had not allowed an earned run in her previous 24 innings pitched this season.
UW-Oshkosh gave Petrus all the run support she needed in the home half of the first inning, when Abby Menting was hit by a Borst pitch with two outs and came around to score on a double from Dudek.
The Titans added a run in the third frame as Tupa laced a leadoff double, advanced to third base on a groundout off the bat of Menting and scored with a crafty slide on Dudek's sacrifice fly.
Petrus, who allowed just four Knights past first base, kept her shutout bid alive with an inning-ending double play in the sixth inning. Petrus ceded a leadoff single to Grace Stock but induced a flyout that kept Stock at first base. The Knights' Anna Gernant then lined out to UW-Oshkosh first baseman Kaitlyn Krol, who stepped on first base in time to double off Stock. The Titans headed into the game second in the country with 0.75 double plays per game.
Krol drew a walk to start the Titans' three-run sixth inning. Szada followed with a double to score pinch-runner Katie Fontanetta before Amanda McIlhany singled to end Borst's outing with Titans at first and third bases. Garstecki greeted new Knights pitcher Bri Leegwater with a single up the middle that plated Szada, and Erika Berry gave the Titans a 5-0 lead with a run-scoring groundout.
Petrus gave up a one-out double to Kayla Groen in the top of the seventh inning, but a pair of groundouts concluded the contest.
Stock went 3-for-3 for Calvin College while Gernant added two hits.
UW-Oshkosh's Tuesday contest against Juniata College (Pa.) was canceled due to rain in the bottom of the fourth inning.
UW-Oshkosh returns to action Thursday (March 22) against Benedictine University (Ill.) and Farmingdale State College (N.Y.) in Clermont.
Photo by Paul Fionda