Pioneers take one from the Saints

CLERMONT, Fla. – The University of Wisconsin-Platteville softball team (5-5) pulled away in the third inning to defeat St. Scholastica (5-2) 7-4 Monday morning before dropping a 5-inning 8-0 game to Wesleyan (Conn.) (3-1). The Pioneers win over the Saints marks the first victory in Florida thus far for the Pioneers.

UW-Platteville pulled ahead in the third inning of game one with bases loaded and a trio of RBI walks and a single up the middle by Amanda Stanczuk to give the Pioneers a 4-0 lead with bases loaded. Sidney Tomczak then finished the inning with a 2RBI single through the right side to increase the Pioneer's advantage to 6-0. The Saints were unable to overcome the detrimental inning and UW-Platteville won 7-4 with Claire Bakkestuen leading the way at the plate going 2-2 with 2RBI. Bakkestuen also closed the game in the circle and struck out six in 2.2 innings while walking one and allowing just two hits. McKenna Rommel took the win and allowed seven hits and three runs.

In game two, a Wesleyan homerun in the top of the first to score three runs forced the Pioneers to work uphill early one. Wesleyan added five more runs in the second frame off three hits to increase their lead to 8-0. UW-Platteville had to fight all game long at the plate and worked to put up three hits but Wesleyan held the strong advantage with 12.  Jordan Johnson suffered the loss while Wesleyan's Bella Secalra-Cotto pitched a complete game striking out five Pioneers and walking none.

UW-Platteville will take Tuesday off to recharge and will return to action on Wednesday with games against Hamline and Ramapo scheduled for 10:15 a.m. and 12:30 p.m.