UW-Platteville Begins WIAC Play with Doubleheader Split vs. UW-Oshkosh

The University of Wisconsin-Platteville softball team started WIAC play on Saturday with a doubleheader split with UW-Oshkosh, winning the opening game by a 3-0 margin and falling in the nightcap, 4-1 at the UW-Platteville Softball Complex.

The doubleheader was originally scheduled to be played at UW-Oshkosh before field conditions moved the twinbill to Platteville.

In game one, the Pioneers, who were the visitors, had four players with two hits each to go along with a complete game shutout by sophomore pitcher Melissa Anderson in the win.

Anderson held the Titans to just four hits - two of which came from shortstop Sydnee Wyss - in the win and leading the offensive attack for the Pioneers was senior Chantal McReynolds (pictured earlier this season), who had a double and a triple and two RBI.

The game was scoreless until the fifth inning. Back-to-back singles by Brittany Caley and Aubrey Fulton put runners on first and second for McReynolds, who emptied the bases with a two-RBI double. After a strikeout, Jordan Johnson drove in McReynolds from second to extend the lead to 3-0.

Anderson diverted a threat in the seventh after the first two runners got on base. She got back to back pop outs and closed out the game with a ground out for her team-leading fifth win of the season.

In the nightcap, the Titans scored three times in the bottom of the fourth after UW-Platteville had tied the game at 1 en route to a 4-1 for the doubleheader split.

The Titans got an unearned run in the first for an early 1-0 advantage and held the lead to the Pioneers plated a run in the fourth.

In the inning, Chantal McReynolds started it off with her second hit of the game with a single up the middle. Next, Nathalie Schattner tripled but McReynolds was thrown out at the play by Titans' left fielder Marti Meyer which prompted a UW-Oshkosh pitching change. Then, Jordan Johnson tied the game at 1 with a sacrifice fly, scoring Schattner.

With the game tied, the Titans came back to score three runs - two of which came in on a Sydnee Wyss single in the bottom of the fourth. UW-Oshkosh added to its lead on a bases loaded walk to Jamie Braden that stretched the lead to 4-1.

The Pioneers mounted a threat in the fifth but stranded two runners on base and after a one-double in the seventh, UW-Platteville left another runner on base to end the comeback chances.

Next up for UW-Platteville is a doubleheader at the University of Dubuque on Tuesday, April 5th at 3 p.m.