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Grueling Stretch
Capped by Sweep of Warhawks
A grueling stretch of Wisconsin Intercollegiate
Athletic Conference games is over and the UW-Stevens Point softball team
will wait to see if its 13-3 record is enough for its first league title
since 2001.
The Pointers played all 16 of their league
games over the past 12 days, culminating with an 8-2 and 7-4 sweep of
UW-Whitewater on Wednesday at McCarty Field. At 28-6 overall, UW-Stevens
Point is the first team to finish league play and is assured of at least
the third seed in the upcoming WIAC tournament. UW-Oshkosh is 9-1 with
six games remaining, while UW-River Falls is 10-2 with four games left.
The Titans and Falcons face each other in a doubleheader on Saturday in
River Falls.
The Pointers achieved their success with hot
hitting that continued again Wednesday as they pounded out 16 hits in
the opening game and nine more in the second game. UW-Stevens Point
scored 77 runs over its past 10 games, resulting in nine victories.
UW-Whitewater�s Amy Gahl gave her team a quick
start in the opening game with a solo home run on the second pitch of
the day. However, the Pointers responded with three runs on six hits in
the bottom of the inning, getting run-scoring singles from Korryn Brooks
and Melissa Boldt.
After the Warhawks cut the lead to 3-2 in the
third, the Pointers came back in the bottom of the inning when Stephanie
Anderson scored on a two-out error. Brooks gave her team a 5-2 lead with
a run-scoring single in the fourth.
Anderson, who pitched a complete game
five-hitter with six strikeouts, added a three-run home run in the sixth
for the final scoring. She and Brooks were each three-for-four, while
Laura Van Abel was three-for-three. Boldt and Sarah Phillips each
recorded two hits.
The Pointers had their leadoff batter on base
every inning in the second game and scored in five of the six frames.
Van Abel hit a sacrifice fly in the first inning and hit a run-scoring
single in the fourth that put the Pointers ahead 6-0. Jackie Berger also
drove in a run on a double in the fourth and the Pointers took advantage
of seven wild pitches by Warhawks� pitchers. Berger and Mandy Jellish
each finished two-for-three.
UW-Whitewater scored three of its runs after
two outs and nobody on base in the seventh, but Hope Krause worked out
of the jam to finish with a complete game and three strikeouts. |
