Pioneers Fall Short in Doubleheader to No. 17 Coe

The University of Wisconsin-Platteville softball team dropped a 5-0, 8-0 doubleheader to Coe in its home opener at the UW-Platteville Softball Complex on Tuesday.

UW-Platteville (5-7) played its first 10 games of the season away from the friendly confines of the UW-Platteville softball complex. After inclement weather delayed the home opener until Tuesday, the Pioneers faced a formidable opponent in No. 17 Coe.

Coe (17-4) starting pitchers Ashlee Simon and Maddison Woodruff held the Pioneers to just two hits and combined for 26 strikeouts on the afternoon. The Kohawks scored 10 of their 13 runs in the doubleheader with two outs to spoil the upset bid and the home opener.

In game one, the top three batters in the Kohawks’ lineup each had two hits as well as Brandi Haight to pace a nine-hit attack. The Pioneers best chance for a run came in the bottom of the first. After two strikeouts to start the inning, UW-Platteville was able to pick up a pair of walks and two passed balls to put runners on the corners. However, Simon picked up her third strikeout of the inning to end the threat.

Coe nearly ended the scoreless game in the fourth after Abby Flannagan advanced to second, following a sacrifice bunt by Shannon Aguero. Next, Brandi Haight hit what was believed to be a RBI triple to the fence; however, following a UW-Platteville appeal it was ruled that she had missed third base in the process taking the run off the board. The Pioneers got out of the inning when Emily Panyard grounded out with Haight on third.

Two innings later, the Kohawks came back and scored their first of five runs in the game with two outs. Morningstar started the inning with a double to left center for Coe. After a pop out and groundout moved her to third, Coe took advantage of a UW-Platteville error on a groundball by Haight to plate the first run of the contest. The Kohawks scored four more in its half of the seventh en route to the 5-0 win.

In the nightcap, Coe scored once in the second and seven in the sixth for the 8-0 win. All eight of the runs for the Kohawks came with two outs. Amanda Hanson and Danielle Schlotterbeck each had two-RBI base hits and Sidney Ridout had a game-high three hits to pace a 12-hit effort by Coe.

The Pioneers were kept off the base paths by Maddison Woodruff, who struck out 11 and gave up just two walks to Brittany Caley as well as a hit by Jordan Johnson.

Next up for UW-Platteville is a makeup of the rescheduled doubleheader against Loras on Thursday at 4 p.m. at the UW-Platteville Softball Complex.