Pioneers and Augustana Split Doubleheader

For the fourth time on the 2011 season, the University of Wisconsin-Platteville softball team posted a doubleheader split. This time, it was in a nonconference match up against Augustana at the UW-Platteville Softball Complex on Sunday. The Pioneers won Sunday’s first game by a 4-2 margin before dropping the nightcap, 11-4.

UW-Platteville (11-13) jumped out to a 2-0 advantage in the first inning of game one. Chantal McReynolds led off the bottom half of the inning with a double to left center. She moved to third on a single up the middle by Nathalie Schattner, who would later steal second. Next, a wild pitch by the Vikings pitcher brought in McReynolds for the early lead and moved Schattner to third base. Jordan Johnson would get on board with a walk to put runners on the corners. Then, the Pioneers stole their second base of the inning but an alert Schattner would score from third to put UW-Platteville in front by a 2-0 margin.

The Vikings’ (15-13) Melissa Nelson hit her first of two triples in the second before Melissa Anderson (pictured at the top) got out of the game for the Pioneers with back to back pop outs in the second.

UW-Platteville attempted to add to its lead in the second and third innings but the Vikings turned a double play in its each inning to hold the Pioneers off the scoreboard. The Pioneers got back on the scoreboard in the fourth with a run to extend the lead to 3-0.

Augustana got on the board in the fifth inning when Nelson hit her second-straight triple of the game. Following that up was Tambling, who triple to left field to cut the UW-Platteville lead to 3-1. Anderson bounced back and recorded three-straight outs to keep the Vikings from getting closer.

In the sixth, the Pioneers stretched its lead back to three, 4-1. Ellyn Goerdt doubled to left center on a ball that hit the top of the UW-Platteville Softball Complex fence. She moved to third on a Brittany Caley sacrifice bunt and came around to score on a Colleen Lowe sacrifice fly. The Vikings plated its final run of the seventh and would be unable to get any closer.

In the win, Goerdt went 2-fo-3 with two runs scored and McReynolds went 2-for-3 with a run scored. Anderson raised her record to 8-3 with a complete game, two strike outs and scattering just five hits.

In game two, five different Augustana players had two hits and four for UW-Platteville but it was an early 9-0 lead by the visiting Vikings that put the Pioneers playing catching for the remainder of the nightcap.

Augustana scored twice in the first on a two-run homerun by Melissa Nelson. The Vikings added to its lead with a single run in the fourth and six more in the fifth for the early 9-0 lead. In the six-run fifth inning, the Vikings sent 12 batters to the plate and scored on seven hits to blow the contest open.

The Pioneers came back with four runs on five hits in its half of the fifth inning to cut the deficit to 9-4. After back to back pop outs, Lowe started the rally when she reached on an Augustana fielding error. Caley drove her in with a RBI single through the left single. A Molly Rice single and another Augustana error put runners on the corners for McReynolds, who singled to right field for the second run of the inning. Then, the Pioneers got a RBI single by Aubrey Fulton and a RBI double by Nathalie Schattner.

Augustana added to its lead in the seventh with two more in the seventh inning. The Pioneers mounted a threat and loaded the bases but were unable to score any runs to end the contest.
Pioneers’ Chantal McReynolds, Aubrey Fulton, Nathalie Schattner and Brittany Caley each had two hits and a RBI to lead a 10-hit attack for UW-Platteville. Jeni Freiburger got the loss and she falls to 3-8 on the season.

Next, the Pioneers will travel to Cedar Rapids on Tuesday to face Cornell in a doubleheader at 4 p.m.