The UW-River Falls Falcons split two WIAC tournament games in Eau Claire on Saturday. The Falcons fell to UW- La Crosse 9-6 but bounced back to defeat UW-Stout 14-2 in five innings.
"The two games today show that anybody can beat anybody in this conference," Falcon Coach Faye Perkins said. "We made some errors in the game against La Crosse that opened the door for them. I was proud of how the team came back after the loss to beat UW-Stout."
The Falcons will play tomorrow against UW-Oshkosh at 10:30 a.m. at Gelein Field in Carson Park. If the Falcons lose, they are eliminated and if they win they will play for the championship at 2:30 p.m.
"We will take one game at a time tomorrow-Oshkosh first!" Perkins said.
Game 1: UW-L: 9 UWRF: 6
La Crosse opened up the scoring in the first inning with a double to left field off of starting pitcher Brooke Lauritzen, her first run allowed in the WIAC tournament.
After a scoreless second inning, in which a combined three runners were left on base between the two teams, the Falcons scored their first runs of the game. Katie Thompson slammed a two run homerun to left center field and scored Amber O'Connell. Thompson had a big day hitting three homeruns and is now tied for second all time in Falcon history with 12 this season.
The Eagles of La Crosse answered when Katie Klein hit a solo home run to right center field and tied up the game. A crazy play in the top of the fourth inning where there was a wild pitch where one runner scored and another was out at the plate gave the Eagles a one run lead after the top of the fourth inning.
The Falcons tied up the score once again as the back and forth theme was alive and well in this game. Shannan Borchardt launched her fourth home run of the season to straight away center field.
La Crosse took back the lead in the top of the fifth with a single to center field, the score then being 4-3. The game in entirety had five lead changes throughout.
UWRF countered with a run in the bottom of the fifth to tie the game once more. This run was scored by a sacrifice fly by Thompson that allowed O'Connell to tag up from third base and score. Thompson had three RBI's in the game.
The Falcons finally took the lead back in the bottom of the sixth inning with Aiyana Ledwein doubling to right center field that scored O'Connell and Toni Lubahn which put the score at 6-4 in favor of the Falcons.
In the top of the seventh inning, La Crosse stormed back with a five run inning. The Eagles were down to their last out after a double play by UWRF, and then a walk home and a wild pitch allowed the score to be tied at 6-6. Greta Gumness of UW- La Crosse knocked the final blow with a three run home run to left center field.
The Falcons fell by a final of 9-6. Lauritzen took the loss and moves to 10-9 on the season. O'Connell was 3-3 on the day and scored three runs as well.
Game 2: UWRF: 14 UW-STOUT: 2
The Falcons turned up the offense in the second game of the day with 11 hits and scored 14 runs in a five inning game against UW- Stout. Abbie Morris pitched the entire game and gave up just two hits.
The Falcons blew open the scoring with seven runs in the top of the second inning on just four hits. The UW- Stout Blue Devils committed five errors in the inning. The highlight of the inning was a two run home run by Morris to left field as well as Thompson hitting a solo home run to lead off the inning.
UW-Stout responded with two runs in the bottom of the second with a triple to center field. After these two runs, Morris settled down and allowed just one hit in the final three innings of play.
The Falcons offense kept pouring it on and scored in each of the last three innings. The Falcons scored four runs in the fourth inning with Thompson getting her second home run of the game and sixth RBI of the day. Kaitlyn Lepine also crushed a solo home run to left field.
Morris secured the win and moves to 9-9 on the season. Thompson had three hits and two home runs and Lepine had three hits with two singles and the home run, her ninth of the year.
