Pioneers sweep Buccaneers in home opener
PLATTEVILLE, Wis. – A walk-off single with bases loaded in game one and a dominate fourth inning in game two carried UW-Platteville to 4-3, 5-1 softball sweep over Beloit College Tuesday night in the Pioneers’ home opener at the UW-Platteville Softball Complex.
Game 2
Game 2
| Final | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | R | H | E |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Beloit
|
1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 5 | 2 |
|
Wis.-Platteville
|
0 | 0 | 1 | 3 | 1 | 0 | X | 5 | 4 | 1 |
Game 1
Game 1
| Final | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | R | H | E |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Beloit
|
2 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 4 | 2 |
|
Wis.-Platteville
|
1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 4 | 9 | 2 |
PLATTEVILLE, Wis. – A walk-off single with bases loaded in game one and a dominate fourth inning in game two carried UW-Platteville to 4-3, 5-1 softball sweep over Beloit College Tuesday night in the Pioneers' home opener at the UW-Platteville Softball Complex.
The Pioneers notched their first home wins of the season and improved to 9-9 overall before Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (WIAC) play beings this weekend.
In game one, Rachel Bonnell hit the game winning walk-off single with a 1-0 count and bases loaded.
The Buccaneers got to an early lead when Ashley Lambert homered scoring two runs in the first inning. UW-Platteville was able to rack up nine hits to Beloit's four, but the Pioneers were still down 3-1 when they took to the plate in the bottom of the seventh.
With two on base, Angela Laabs hit a perfect sac bunt on the right line to advance the runners and was followed by two walks, Rachel Martin and Shannon Gaul, which scored one Pioneer run. Next to the plate was Alejandra Ochoa who singled deep to left field to run in the tying run before Bonnell's walk-off single to left field.
Bonnell, Martin, and Haili Cota each racked up two hits in game one. Abby Burns (3-4) took the win pitching five innings with four strikeouts and gave up just one hit with three walks.
In game two, a dominate fourth inning would prove too much for Beloit to overcome.
Beloit once again was first to score with a 1-0 lead going into the bottom of the third inning, but a sac bunt by Gaul in the third to run in Chaela West evened the game 1-1.
UW-Platteville then took a commanding lead in the fourth inning with two stolen bases and three runs scored. The Pioneers extend the lead to 5-1 with a sac fly by Bonnell in the fifth to run in Marley Rowe.
Andra O'Brien (3-1) claimed the win in game two and struck out five Buccaneers while walking just one and yielding five hits. Beloit's Alyssa Boltick (6-13) suffered her second loss of the day and struck out two batters and yielded four hits with eight walks.
The Pioneers will return to action at home this weekend when they open their WIAC play against the UW-Stout Blue Devils on Saturday. Game times are scheduled for 1 and 3 p.m. at the Softball Complex.
