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Pointers'
Winning Streak Halted in Losses to Titans
One out away from an opening-game victory,
UW-Stevens Point saw its lead slip away and ended up dropping both ends
of a Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference softball doubleheader
to UW-Oshkosh on Tuesday at McCarty Field.
The Pointers had a nine-game winning streak
snapped in the opening game as the Titans prevailed 4-1 in 11 innings.
UW-Oshkosh carried its momentum into the second game for an 8-3 victory
to improve to 16-6 overall and 5-1 in the WIAC. UW-Stevens Point, off to
its best start in school history, fell to 19-5 overall and 4-2 in the
league.
Stephanie Anderson tied a pair of school
records in the opening game, pitching 11 innings and striking out 13
batters. However, both records came as a result of UW-Oshkosh tying the
game with two outs in the seventh inning.
Danielle Ashbeck gave the Pointers a 1-0 lead
with a solo home run in the fifth inning that stood until the Titans�
Brianna Bilotti drove in Dani Olsen with a two-out single in the
seventh. With one out in the inning, Olsen pinch hit and recorded just
the team�s third hit of the game. She was bunted to second by Jenelle
Schmidt, stole third and scored on Bilotti�s clutch hit.
UW-Stevens Point had a one-out double by Mandy
Jellish in the eighth, but failed to score and mounted just six hits
against Titans� pitcher Ronessa Stampfli, who forced the Pointers into a
single-game school record 16 strikeouts.
The Titans had five of their 11 hits in the
11th inning and took the lead on a run-scoring single by Schmidt.
Anderson pitched a school-record 11 innings in a game for the second
time this season and matched Karen Guckenberger�s single-game strikeout
record.
UW-Oshkosh scored two runs in the top of the
first inning of the second game before the Pointers� Laura Van Abel hit
a solo homer in the bottom of the inning. The Titans broke open the game
in the third on a grand slam by Lyndsey Allen, who also had a
run-scoring double in the first inning and finished three-for-four with
five RBI�s. After UW-Oshkosh extended the lead to 7-1 in the top of the
fifth, the Pointers scored once in the bottom of the inning and had the
bases loaded with two outs, but Stampfli entered the game and induced a
groundout to work out of the jam.
Seven different players had hits for the
Pointers, while Bilotti and Whitney Tyriver were also each
three-for-four for the Titans. Hope Krause took the loss for UW-Stevens
Point. |
