Titans Rally For 10-Inning Victory In WIAC Championship Opener
Acacia Tupa sent the game to extra innings with a two-run double during the bottom of the seventh frame and Natalie Dudek delivered a walk-off sacrifice fly in the 10th to lift top-seeded UW-Oshkosh to a 4-3 victory over eighth-seeded UW-Stout in the quarterfinal round of the Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference Softball Championship (presented by Culver's) on Tuesday (May 11) at UW-Oshkosh Softball Park.
UW-Oshkosh was down to its final strike, facing a 3-1 deficit in the home half of the seventh inning with two outs, the bases loaded and Tupa at the plate after pinch-hitter Katie Fontanetta reached via a Blue Devil error. With the count full following a called strike, Tupa, who homered an inning prior, smashed a double off the right field fence to score Amanda Mc Ilhany and pinch-runner Chloe Lambie with the tying runs. Mc Ilhany and Dudek sparked the rally with back-to-back one-out singles.
After stranding the bases loaded in the bottom of the eighth inning and going down in order during the ninth, the Titans once again loaded the bases in the 10th as Hannah Ritter and Emily Cliver led off with singles and advanced into scoring position following a Morgan Rau sacrifice bunt. Mc Ilhany was intentionally walked to bring up Dudek, who lifted a deep fly ball to center field that scored Ritter without a throw.
Tupa's late-inning heroics and Dudek's game-ending sacrifice fly combined to make a winner of UW-Oshkosh relief pitcher Claire Petrus, who tossed five shutout innings to improve her record to 4-3 on the year.
UW-Oshkosh (21-10), the WIAC regular season co-champion, moves on to host sixth-seeded UW-Platteville (17-16) for a semifinal contest Thursday (May 13). Game time is scheduled for 2 p.m. at UW-Oshkosh Softball Park. Thursday's winners advance to play in the best-of-three championship series that begins Saturday (May 15) at the highest remaining seed.
Thursday's other WIAC Championship semifinal features regular season co-champion and second-seeded UW-Whitewater (27-8) hosting fourth-seeded UW-Stevens Point (23-15). Tuesday's quarterfinal results also included UW-Whitewater defeating seventh-seeded UW-River Falls (11-18), 9-0 in six innings, UW-Stevens Point besting fifth-seeded UW-La Crosse (14-14) by a 4-1 score, and UW-Platteville outlasting third-seeded UW-Eau Claire (22-17), 6-5 in 11 innings.
UW-Stout jumped out to a 1-0 lead in the first inning, scoring on a hit-by-pitch with two outs and the bases loaded. The Blue Devils only needed one hit to score during the opening frame as Jessica Christiansen singled to lead off the game, went to second base on a sacrifice bunt and reached third following a wild pitch with two outs. UW-Oshkosh starting pitcher Maddie Fink issued a walk and hit the next two batters before escaping a bases-loaded jam with a flyout to Tupa in center field.
The Blue Devils later extended their lead to 3-0 on a two-run single from Meghan Kelly with one out in the fifth inning. However, Kelly was thrown out trying to advance to second base on the throw, and Fink, who surrendered just four hits and a pair of walks with four strikeouts, finished her five-inning outing with a popup against the next batter.
UW-Stout starting pitcher Sommer Kunstmann worked around a leadoff double in the second inning, leadoff singles during both the third and fourth frames, and retired six consecutive Titans until Tupa broke up the shutout with a towering home run down the right field line that pulled UW-Oshkosh within 3-1. The homer was Tupa's second this year and 12th career.
Petrus entered the UW-Oshkosh pitcher's circle to begin the sixth inning and went on to hold the Blue Devils to a mere four singles the rest of the way. Petrus, who struck out four batters without issuing a walk, did not allow a runner past second base over the final five innings.
UW-Stout broke up Petrus' run of eight straight retired batters with a leadoff single in the ninth inning. The Blue Devils eventually had runners at first and second bases with one out during the ninth frame, but Petrus got a groundout and a flyout to preserve the tie.
Petrus then worked around a two-out single in the top of the 10th inning to set the stage for the Titans' rally during the home half of the frame that improved UW-Oshkosh's home record to 8-1 this season.
UW-Oshkosh outhit UW-Stout, 10-8, as Cliver went 3-for-5 with a pair of doubles to lead the way. Tupa added two extra-base hits of her own en route to driving in the first three Titan runs. Ritter, hitting .495 on the year, had two hits in addition to scoring the winning run.
UW-Stout's Kunstmann (0-10) suffered the complete game loss, yielding four runs (two earned) on 10 hits and two walks with one strikeout in 9.2 innings.
Christiansen and Kayli Pfeffer had two hits apiece for the Blue Devils, who suffered their ninth consecutive loss to the Titans. UW-Oshkosh beat UW-Stout by scores of 12-0 in five innings and 2-1 in eight innings during the 2021 regular season.
UW-Oshkosh, seeking to reach the league tournament final for the ninth time and first since 2018, won three of its four meetings with UW-Platteville this season, splitting a WIAC doubleheader in Platteville and sweeping two nonconference games in Oshkosh.
Photo by Steve Frommell, UW-Oshkosh Athletics