The UW-River Falls Falcons got off to a great start in the double elimination weekend long WIAC tourney beating No.1 seed UW-Eau Claire 1-0 with Brooke Laurtizen pitching a shutout and Abbie Morris going 3-3 at bat including a homerun in the first inning. 

"Brooke (Lauritzen) pitched a great game this morning," said Falcon Coach Faye Perkins. "And Amber (O'Connell) caught a great game. Brooke came up big in the end striking out the last two batters with the bases loaded. (Abbie) Morris' homer in the first was all we needed to win the game today. When we play our best as a team we can beat anybody."

After two quick outs in the top of the first inning Morris smacked a homerun to left field for the games only run. The homerun was the fifth of the year for Morris who also had three of the Falcons ten hits. 

Brooke Lauritzen struck out ten batters while only giving up five hits in the win. UWRF did commit three errors in the loss while the Blugolds did not commit anyway but still hung on for the victory. 

Amber O'Connell, Katie Thompson and Shannan Borchardt all had multiple hit games along with Morris. Borchardt had a big double in the game.

The win improves the Falcons to 21-20 overall on the season. UWRF will take action again tomorrow morning against UW-La Crosse with the first pitch set for 10 a.m. La Crosse swept the Falcons earlier this year by scores of 6-2 and 10-2 at La Crosse. All results and updates on the WIAC tourney can be found here.