Pioneers win extra innings thriller to upset Blugolds and advance to WIAC Semifinals

EAU CLAIRE, Wis. – The University of Wisconsin-Platteville softball team claimed its first victory since 2012 in a WIAC Championship (presented by Culver's) game with a 6-5 win over UW-Eau Claire after 11 innings in Tuesday's quarterfinal. The #6 seed victory over the #3 seed was the only upset in the WIAC on the day and advances the Pioneers to Thursday's semifinal at UW-Oshkosh.

"The team showed some grit today!" said UW-Platteville head coach Becca Lowe. "A seeding is just a number and the girls truly showed how good they really are and how bad they wanted it. So proud of every single one of them and their fight all the way through. Ashton [Hoeppner] and Claire [Bakkestuen] both had excellent performances on the mound and our bats came alive at the right time!"

UW-Platteville mixed a solid day in the circle along with a strong showing at the plate as the Pioneers outhit the Blugolds 15-9. Senior Ashton Hoeppner led off and pitched eight innings while stacking up nine strikeouts. Hoeppner surrendered six hits with just two falling in the first six innings of play. Senior Shannon Gaul book-ended the day with homers in the first and 11^th innings. Junior Rachel Plautz and sophomore Claire Bakkestuen tallied a double apiece, while junior Riley Kelsch fired off a triple for two RBIs.

Just three batters into the game, the Pioneers navigated to an early 2-0 lead thanks to a 2RBI home run by Gaul. The veteran Pioneer fired one over the fences and ran in senior teammate Alejandra Ochoa who was hit by a pitch during the previous at bat.

In the bottom of the first inning, Hoeppner struck out the third Blugold for the third out. Hoeppner tallied two more K's with the first two batters faced in the second frame and the score remained 2-0 going into the third inning.  

UW-Eau Claire took the lead in the bottom of the third with a leftfield line double which scored three unearned runs before the third out.

In the top of the fifth, UW-Platteville reclaimed the lead with a triple by Kelsch to score two runs and edge the Pioneers ahead 4-3. Hoeppner recorded yet another huge strikeout to retire the final out of the 5^th inning, securing UW-Platteville's one-run lead and leaving three baserunners stranded.

Midway through the bottom of the seventh, it looked like the Pioneers might pull off the win, but a single to left center scored one run and took the game into extra innings.

The Blugolds almost walked off with the game at the end of nine innings with a runner on third and just one out on the board. However, Bakkestuen struck out the next two batters and took the game into the 10^th inning.

Going into the 11^th inning, Gaul led off for the Pioneers and homered for the second time Tuesday to take the lead 5-4 and give UW-Platteville the spark it needed to take the game to the finish line. Gaul was followed up by two hits and a SAC bunt to put two runners in scoring position with one out. UW-Eau Claire walked Kelsch to load bases and opened the door for an RBI single by sophomore Amanda Stanczuk to give the Pioneers a 2-run cushion.

The Blugolds answered back and reduced the Pioneers' lead to one-run while also suffering the second out. One out away from advancing to the semifinals and with a runner on first base, a toss from shortstop Kelsch to the first baseman secured the final out and the win for the Pioneers.

Bakkestuen (6-4) was credited with the win and struck out five while giving up three hits and one run in three innings of relief. Morgan Slvak (9-7) suffered the loss and struck out two, walked five and gave up 11 hits with four runs in nine innings. The two Ks by Slvak were the only two strikeouts against the Pioneers throughout all 11 innings.

UW-Platteville improved to 17-16 while the Blugolds finished their season 22-17. The Pioneers advance to the semifinals of the WIAC Championship (presented by Culver's) and will travel to #1 seed UW-Oshkosh on Thursday, May 13 with first pitch scheduled for 2 p.m.