Pioneers split with #21 ranked UW-Eau Claire

EAU CLAIRE, Wis. – The University of Wisconsin-Platteville softball team split Saturday's double header at nationally ranked UW-Eau Claire's Bollinger Field.

The Pioneers took the Blugolds to eight innings in game one to ultimately fall 2-1 before topping UW-Eau Claire 1-0 in game two.  The Pioneers advance to 14-16, 4-4 WIAC while the Blugolds dropped to to 19-6-1, 5-2-1 WIAC.

Although the Pioneers scored first in game one and outhit the Blugolds 6-4, it was not enough to hold them off in the extra inning battle. With the scored tied 1-1 going into the bottom of the eighth, with a runner on second, UW-Eau Claire's Rongstad doubled to left field and score the runner to close out the first game 2-1.

Ashton Hoeppner (L, 6-8) suffered the loss, but tallied five strikeouts while allowing four hits and one walk.  Sarah Peka and Cheyenne Johnson (W, 4-2) totaled five strikeouts for the Blugolds and allowed six hits and one walk.

Leading the Pioneers' hitting in game one was Rachel Plautz who went 2-for-3 at the plate with Rachel Martin and Rachel Bonnell recording a double apiece while Martin also tallied the lone RBI.

In game two, the Pioneers scored once again in the top of the first and this time, it was enough to hold to the end and claim the 1-0 victory and split with the Blugolds.  

With bases loaded, Shannon Gaul grounded out to second base and advanced the runners to score Plautz and give UW-Platteville an early 1-0 lead.

Plautz once again led the Pioneers' hitting and went 2-for-4 at the plate to bring her to a total of 4-for-7 on the day.

Abby Burns (W, 5-6) got the win and stuck out six and yielded five hits.  Hoeppner returned to the circle in the fifth inning and recorded the save.  She added another strikeout to bring her day's total to six with three walks.  Sarah Peka (L, 9-3) suffered the loss and struck out one and allowed three hits before Cheyenne Johnson relieved Peka. Johnson added three strikeouts, two hits, and walked two.

The Pioneers return to action on Wednesday when they travel to UW-Whitewater with games scheduled for 2 and 4 p.m.