It was a day of rough second innings for the UW-River Falls Falcons giving up five runs in the second inning of both games today as they fell short in both despite strong comeback efforts.
First Game- Amherst 7, UWRF 5Amherst got on the board right away in the top of the first but really poured it on in what was a sloppy second inning for the Falcons. UWRF committed three errors and gave up four hits as Amherst brought in five second inning runs to go up 6-0 early.
The Falcons cut into the lead in the bottom of the second after
Amber O'Connell and
Abby Veloske were both walked and
Sarah Sorensen hit a single to bring in a run.
Katie Thompson smacked a homer out of the park in the bottom of the third to bring in two runs making it a three run game after three. Thompson has two home runs on the season and is hitting .450 on the season.
After a scoreless fourth and fifth inning Amherst added another run in the top of the sixth. The Falcons could not produce a run in the bottom of the sixth but prevented Amherst from scoring in the seventh to stay within reach. After a quick out
Brooke Lauritzen doubled to right center and advanced to third on a wild pitch the next at bat.
Michelle LaCasse brought Lauritzen home on a single to center. After an error put O'Connell on and another Falcon out UWRF had runners on second and third with two outs. A wild pitch brought in one more run but that all the closer they would get in the 7-5 loss.
The Falcons had nine hits while giving up 11 but also committed four errors in the loss. Thompson had two hits in the game. Morris took the loss on the mound in 1.1 innings of work but only gave up two earned runs. Lauritzen went the rest of the way giving up seven hits and no earned runs while striking out one batter. Lauritzen has a 2.50 ERA on the season.
Second Game- Ripon 8, UWRF 5The second game of the day for the Falcons took a deja vu start as they gave up one run in the first and five in the second to start down 6-0.
Ripon got close to making it a five inning game when they added another run in the bottom of the fourth. The Falcons got the bats going in the top of the sixth when Sorensen singled and freshman
Maddie Studnicka added a spark on her first career collegiate at bat with a single.
Kaitlyn LePine also added a single later in the inning and Thompson cleared the bases with a double to right center to pull UWRF within four.
Ripon scored one more run in the top of seventh to go up 8-3. O'Connell started the bottom of the inning with a single for the Falcons and Shannon Borchardt hit a single for her first career collegiate hit with O'Connell scoring on a Ripon error in the outfield. Later in the inning Studnicka recorded another hit with a single that brought in a run but the Falcons would not get any closer.
Both teams finished with eight hits as LePine and Studnicka both recorded two for UWRF. Morris took the loss on the mound to drop to 4-4 on the season.
Lauren Janssen got 3.1 innings of work only giving up three hits and struck out one batter and LaCasse pitched the final inning not giving up a hit and striking out two batters.
UWRF falls to 7-7 on the season and will have the day off tomorrow before finishing out their Florida trips with two games Thursday and two games Friday. On Thursday they face Concordia University, Wis. at 1 p.m. ET and McDaniel College to follow.
