WHITEWATER, Wis. – The UW-River Falls softball team returned from a two-week break with a sweep over UW-Whitewater Saturday afternoon during the 2022 WIAC opener.
The sweep over the Warhawks marked the first pair of wins over UW-Whitewater since the 2012 Falcons defeated UWW 4-1 and 8-4 in the 2012 WIAC Tournament Championship.
UWRF tallied three homers on the day and out-hit the Warhawks 20-11 through two games.
Keegan Piton led the offense with five hits, four runs scored, and three runs batted in.
UW-River Falls 6, UW-Whitewater 1
Game one was paced by homers from Piton and
Megan Halvorson along with a complete game from
Juliana Reynolds.
A Piton three-run homer in the third gave the Falcons their first lead of the day, her second of the season. Halvorson followed with her second career home run in the fourth, to put UWRF up 4-0. RBI's from Petersen and
Jewel Waupekenay gave the Falcons a 6-0 lead, enough cushion for Reynolds and the Falcon defense to earn the first win over UWW since 2018.
Reynolds improved her record to 6-2 on the season with her fourth complete game, allowing one run off six hits in seven innings pitched, notching six strikeouts.
The Falcons totaled 12 hits, led by three from Piton and a pair from Waupekenay. Nine different Falcons recorded at least one base hit.
UW-River Falls 3, UW-Whitewater 2
During game two, the Falcons once again took the first lead and played solid defense, limiting the Warhawks to a pair of runs off just five hits.
Petersen singled home Piton in the fourth, a two-run homer from Waupekenay in the sixth, her first as a Falcon, put UWRF up 3-0.
In the bottom half of the sixth, the Warhawks started to rally with back-to-back solo homers to trim the Falcon led to 3-2.
Next inning, Whitewater threatened during their final chance to rally in the bottom of the seventh after a pair of bases on balls, but
Lindsey Duggan and the Falcon defense escaped the jam, with Duggan striking out the final batter to seal the UWRF sweep and earn a save.
Corinne Roe started in the pitcher's circle and allowed one earned run in 5.1 innings pitched before being relieved by Duggan.
Petersen led UWRF with a 3-for-3 game at the plate.
The Falcons hit the road for Oshkosh, Wis., to face No. 15-ranked UW-Oshkosh tomorrow.
