Titans Defeat Warhawks, Lose To Eagles At WIAC Tournament
The nationally ranked UW-Oshkosh softball team had its remarkable season come to an end after splitting a pair of highly contested games at the Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference Tournament (presented by Culver's) on Saturday (May 7) in La Crosse.
Defending WIAC Tournament champion and second-seeded UW-Oshkosh (26-10), ranked 18th in the NCAA Division III by the National Fastpitch Coaches Association, pulled out a 1-0 victory over fourth-seeded UW-Whitewater (20-19) with a run in the top of the seventh inning to remain alive in the five-team, double-elimination tournament.
Top-seeded UW-La Crosse (27-9) then clinched a spot in the WIAC Tournament title game by outlasting the Titans, 2-1 in 11 innings. UW-La Crosse will face third-seeded UW-Eau Claire (25-9) for the league postseason title Sunday (May 8) in La Crosse. The winner of the conference tournament earns the WIAC's automatic berth into the 62-team Division III Championship.
UW-Oshkosh's Maddie Fink, the 2021 WIAC Pitcher of the Year, started both games Saturday and yielded just one earned run on six hits and three walks with 11 strikeouts across 16 innings during the two contests.
Hannah Ritter, a 2021 NFCA Third Team All-American for the Titans a year ago, had two hits Saturday and finished the season with a WIAC record-tying .500 batting average. Ritter becomes the sixth WIAC player – including UW-Oshkosh's Whitney Tornow in 2010 – to conclude the year hitting .500.
In the first elimination game of the day, Fink and UW-Whitewater's Kate Cleveland were locked in a scoreless pitcher's duel until Fink exited in favor of UW-Oshkosh reliever Sydney Nemetz to begin the sixth inning.
Fink stymied the Warhawks through five innings, allowing just two baserunners on a two-out double in the bottom of the second frame and a hit batter with two outs in the third. Fink worked around her only baserunners by snaring a liner to end the Warhawks threat in the second and notching a strikeout to preserve the shutout in the third.
Nemetz pitched around a one-out single in the home half of the sixth inning to keep the contest tied at 0 heading into the seventh frame.
The Titans' fateful top of the seventh inning began with a pair of outs. However, pinch-hitter Emily Rivero reached via a UW-Whitewater error. Gabby Buikema re-entered for Rivero and promptly stole second base with Zoe Malone at the plate. Malone also reached via a throwing error that allowed Buikema to race home without a play as the ball went to the fence on the first-base line.
Nemetz ceded a two-out double in the home half of the seventh inning but got a flyout to Buikema in center field to end the game.
Nemetz (12-2) earned the win with two scoreless innings on two hits. Fink struck out three and did not issue a walk during the first five innings.
Cleveland was charged with the loss despite not allowing an earned run and giving up a mere two singles with three strikeouts.
UW-Oshkosh and UW-Whitewater shared the 2021 WIAC regular season title and met in last year's league postseason final.
In the elimination contest against UW-La Crosse, the Eagles scored once in the top of the first inning and bookended the game with an unearned run during the 11th.
UW-Oshkosh's Sydney Rau tied the score at 1 with a two-out single to plate pinch-runner Lizzie Slobodecki in the bottom of the fourth inning.
Fink and UW-La Crosse starting pitcher Elise Weinzierl proceeded to blank their opponents over the next six innings and send the game into the 11th frame tied at 1.
Emily Knight delivered the game-winning hit with a two-out single that brought home Kyra Lard in the top of the 11th inning.
UW-Oshkosh, which left 12 runners on base, outhit UW-La Crosse, 10-5, but stranded a pair of baserunners during each of the fifth, seventh, eighth and ninth innings.
Weinzierl then retired the Titans in order during the home half of the 11th inning to propel the Eagles to the WIAC Tournament championship game. Weinzierl (13-2), the WIAC leader in wins, went the distance, scattering 10 hits and two walks with four strikeouts in 11 innings.
Fink suffered the complete game loss despite limiting UW-La Crosse to one earned run on five hits and three walks with eight strikeouts in 11 innings. Fink, who pitched each of the Titans' final 55 innings during their 2021 postseason run to the World Series, had never gone longer than 9.1 innings in her three seasons at UW-Oshkosh.
Malone, Rau and Ritter all had two of UW-Oshkosh's 10 hits.
UW-Oshkosh capped its WIAC record-tying 18th consecutive full season with 20 or more wins. The Titans' 10 losses this year were their fewest since going 31-9 in 1987.