Pioneers drop two against Blue Devils

PLATTEVILLE, Wis. – The University of Wisconsin-Platteville softball team came up short in Saturday's WIAC doubleheader against UW-Stout, falling 5-2 and 10-9 at UW-Platteville's Softball Complex.

The rival Blue Devils (11-8, 2-0 WIAC) accounted for 19 total hits as did the Pioneers (9-11, 0-2 WIAC) in the WIAC-opener.

In game one, the Blue Devils trailed 2-1 in the top of the fifth inning, but Kyncaide Diedrich doubled on the first pitch of the at bat, scoring two runs and taking the lead to keep for the remainder of game one.

Rachel Martin and Abby Burns each tallied two hits in game one to lead UW-Platteville.

Ashton Hoeppner (L, 3-5) toed the rubber for the Pioneers and struck out seven while allowing seven hits and walking three Blue Devils.  UW-Stout's Sommer Kunstmann (W, 2-4) struck out just one Pioneer and yielded eight hits and two walks.

In game two, late scores in the sixth inning cost UW-Platteville the split with the Blue Devils.

The Pioneers came up big in the first inning when Martin doubled deep to right center to score one run followed with Chaela West's run when she was called safe at home off Alejandra Ochoa's fielder choice.  Ochoa made it home off Shannon Gaul's double to center field and Burns scored to give the Pioneers the 4-2 lead after one inning.

The Pioneers led 8-5 off back-to-back RBIs from Gaul and Rachel Bonnell in the bottom of the fifth, but a dominate sixth inning for the Blue Devils gave them the 10-8 lead and the Pioneers would have to take it to the bottom of the seventh. 

The Pioneers narrowed the lead to 10-9, but a ground out to pitcher with runners on second and third would give UW-Stout the third out and the sweep.

Andra O'Brien (L, 3-2) took the loss and tallied three strikeouts and allowed seven hits with six earned runs. UW-Platteville's pitching stuck out eight to UW-Stout's zero.   Madee Kleinschmidt (W, 1-0) took the win with Melea Bruns claiming her second save of the season.

The Pioneers will return to action when they travel to the University of Dubuque on Tuesday for the non-conference doubleheader scheduled for 3 and 5 p.m.