Titans Victorious Over Pipers, Vikings
The nationally ranked UW-Oshkosh softball team matched a season high with 10 hits in the first game of the day and Maddie Fink pitched a gem during the second contest as the Titans won a pair of nonconference matchups with Minnesota programs Sunday (Feb. 27) in Mankato, Minn.
UW-Oshkosh (3-1), ranked 12th in the NCAA Division III by the National Fastpitch Coaches Association, cruised to a 5-2 victory over Hamline University before coming back for a 3-1 win against host Bethany Lutheran College.
Hannah Ritter had two hits in both games for the Titans on Sunday and is now batting .643 on the year. Ritter, a 2021 NFCA Third Team All-American, has reached base safely in 35 consecutive games.
Brianna Davis added three of UW-Oshkosh's 18 hits on the day.
During the win over Hamline University (0-1), the Titans exploded for five runs on seven hits in the top of the second inning and UW-Oshkosh pitchers Mia Crotty and Sydney Nemetz combined to hold the Pipers to six hits.
Sydney Rau tripled to plate Sophie Wery with the game's first run in the second inning. Davis then scored Rau with a single for the eventual game-winning run. Zoe Malone tacked on a run-scoring double and eventually came around to score on a passed ball. Grace Stevens capped the five-run outburst with a double to bring home Morgan Rau for a 5-0 lead.
Crotty (1-0) earned the win in her season debut, holding Hamline University to two runs (one earned) on five hits and two walks with four strikeouts across the first six innings.
Nemetz notched her first career save after pitching a scoreless seventh inning with a pair of strikeouts.
Davis and Ritter both had two hits for the Titans.
Theresa Klinnert was the losing pitcher in the Hamline University season opener, surrendering five runs (four earned) on nine hits and two walks in three innings.
In the victory over Bethany Lutheran College, UW-Oshkosh gave Fink all the support she needed with back-to-back run-scoring singles from Wery and Gabby Buikema in the home half of the fifth inning.
After Davis knotted the score at 1 on a sacrifice fly in the bottom of the second inning, Fink worked around a two-out single in the third frame and a leadoff single in the fifth to keep the score tied.
Ritter sparked UW-Oshkosh's decisive fifth-inning rally with a one-out single. Morgan Rau followed with a single to advance pinch-runner Lizzie Slobodecki to second base, and Stevens reached via an error to load the bases for Wery, who singled to left field to score Slobodecki with what turned out to be the winning run. Buikema followed with a single of her own to plate Stevens for a 3-1 advantage.
Bethany Lutheran College (4-4) had runners at the corners with two outs in the sixth inning, but Fink recorded her eighth and final strikeout of contest to escape the jam. Fink proceeded the set down the Vikings in order on three groundouts during the seventh frame.
Fink (1-1) did not allow an earned run while yielding just three hits and three walks en route to lowering her season earned run average to 0.51. Fink has tossed complete games in each of her last 10 outings dating back to last season.
Ritter and Buikema both contributed two of the Titans' eight hits.
The Vikings scored their only run on a sacrifice fly following an error during the top of the first inning.
Bethany Lutheran College's Kayla Senne (3-2) went the distance in the pitcher's circle, suffering the loss after giving up one earned run with three strikeouts in six innings.
UW-Oshkosh conducts its home-opening weekend with a pair of nonconference games next Saturday and Sunday (March 5-6). The Titans face Lawrence University and Concordia University Wisconsin on Saturday in the UW-Oshkosh Rec Plex.