UW-L Falls Twice at UW-River Falls

For Immediate Release: Sunday, April 27, 2008

River Falls, Wis. – The UW-La Crosse softball team dropped a pair of games at UW-River Falls Sunday afternoon at Ramer Field. The Falcons won the opener, 5-4 in nine innings, and the nightcap, 6-3. UW-L falls to 20-15 overall and 6-8 in the WIAC while UW-River Falls improves to 24-10 overall and 7-7 in the conference.

In the opener, UW-L took a 1-0 lead in the top of the first on Liz Bradley's sacrifice fly scoring Rachel Weyer. UW-River Falls tied it in the bottom of hte fifth on a Dani Nadeau sacrifice fly.

Each team scored a run in the seventh to force extra innings. Bradley had an RBI double for the Eagles in the seventh to score Rachel Croak, but the Falcons' Mindy Rudiger hit a two-out solo home run in the bottom of the inning to tie it. Kelsey Golackson gave UW-L a 3-2 lead in the top of the eighth scoring on a wild pitch, but Emily Howlett hit a lead-off home run in the bottom of the inning for UW-River Falls.

Cara Salm hit a one-out solo home run for UW-L in the ninth to make it 4-3, but UW-River Falls scored twice in the bottom of the inning to record the win on Howlett's two-run two-out single down the left field line.

Cassie Huettl (1-4) took the loss for UW-L, giving up one hit, two runs and one walk. Jess Iwanski started, going 8.2 innings, allowing nine hits, three runs and two walks with six strikeouts. Salm and Iwanski each had two hits at the plate.

Brittany Rathburn (10-5) earned the win for UW-River Falls, pitching 1.2 innings, allowing one hit and one run with two strikeouts. Howlett finished 3-for-5 at the plate with three RBI and a run scored while Ashley James was 3-for-4 with a run scored.

In the nightcap, UW-River Falls took a 2-0 lead in the bottom of the first before UW-L cut the lead to 2-1 in the second on Katie Pietrowiak's RBI single. The Falcons scored two more runs in the second to lead 4-1.

Pietrowiak scored for the Eagles in the fourth on a Falcons' error to make it 4-2, but UW-River Falls scored a run in the fifth and sixth innings. Mary Buvala finished the scoring for UW-L knocking in Kim Pietrowiak on a groundout in the seventh.

Heather Schultz (6-6) took the loss, going 1.1 innings, allowing six hits, four runs (three earned) and one walk. Kaylyn Von Glahn pitched 4.2 innings, allowing four hits and two runs with two strikeouts. Buvala was 3-for-4 at the plate while Katie Pietrowiak finished 2-for-3 with a run scored and RBI.

Ashley Bertrand (14-5) picked up the win, pitching 2.1 innings, allowing one hit and four walks while striking out two. Rathbun started, going 4.2 innings, giving up nine hits, three runs (two earned) and one walk with two strikeouts. Howlett was 3-for-4 with two runs scored and four RBI while Rudiger, Keri Feller and Amanda Peters each had two hits.

UW-L returns to action Monday, April 28 at UW-Stout in a doubleheader at 4 p.m.