CLERMONT, Fla. — The UW-River Falls softball team opened its spring trip to Florida with a 3-1 win over Lakeland and a 10-3 loss against Simpson in the first of 12 matchups at THE Spring Games.
UW-River Falls saw its record move to 5-3 on the season after the split on day one of the spring trip. Lindsey Duggan earned a win in the pitchers circle, while Cailtyn Kressel totaled three runs across the two games and Kelly Aultman tallied two RBIs.
UW-River Falls 3, Lakeland 1
The Falcons and Lakeland Muskies played out a narrow game to open up the spring trip, as UWRF capitalized off runs in the sixth and seventh innings to run away with a 3-1 win. Lindsey Duggan was the winning pitcher and threw 4.2 scoreless innings in relief that saw UWRF hold on to a narrow margin of victory.
Right off the bat, an RBI-single by Kelly Aultman in the bottom of the first inning scored Caitlyn Kressel to put UWRF up 1-0.
Lakeland knotted the game at 1-1 in the bottom of the third, scoring off an error. The game would stay tied at 1-1 until the sixth inning. Aultman hit a leadoff double, and the run was eventually scored off a sacrifice-fly by Tessa Peterson, putting UWRF up 2-1.
The Falcons added another run in the top of the seventh as Kressel hit a solo home run. After a walk and wild pitch put two runners on in the bottom of the seventh, Duggan recorded three straight outs to end the game and give the Falcons the two-run victory.
Duggan threw 4.2 innings, allowing just two hits, no runs, and striking out six batters. At the plate, Kressel went 2-4 with an RBI and two runs, while Aultman went 2-2 with an RBI.
UW-River Falls 3, Simpson 10
In game two, the Falcons started off neck-and-neck with Simpson, but ultimately the Storm pulled away in the middle innings, totaling 10 runs off 13 hits.
After Simpson built an early 2-0 lead, an RBI-double from Aultman and a score off a passed ball allowed UWRF to knot the game at 2-2. However, the Storm scored two runs in each of the second and third innings, making things an uphill battle early on for the Falcons. Abby Pitts hit a solo home run in the bottom of the second inning that trimmed the deficit to 4-3, but ultimately Simpson began to pull away at this point in the game.
The Storm added two runs in the third, one in the fourth, and three in the fifth to ultimately win 10-3. Simpson's Makayla Fowler led the way for the Storm with a 3-4 performance at the plate, totaling one RBI and one run.
Aultman and Grace Gardner each tallied two-hit performances. Kressel, Gardner and Pitts scored runs, while Aultman and Pitts tallied one RBI each.
Up next, UWRF will face Babson College and Framingham State in back-to-back games tomorrow. The first matchup is set to begin at 11:15 a.m. ET.
