Softball comes up short in defensive battle with Warhawks

The University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire softball team was in Eastern Wisconsin on Thursday as they began play in the 2024 Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (WIAC) Tournament hosted by UW-Oshkosh.

With UW-Eau Claire entering the postseason as the conference fifth seed, UWEC took on the fourth seeded UW-Whitewater in the opening round. A defensive dual between the Blugolds and Warhawks saw a combined seven hits and just three runs as Eau Claire fell to UWW, 2-1.

The bottom of the first inning saw the first runs across the board as the Warhawks jumped out to a 2-0 lead on a sacrifice fly to left field and a bases loaded hit by pitch. Despite UWW occupying all the bases for four batters, UWEC found the final out on a caught fall ball to keep the deficit at 2-0.

The two teams made quick work of the second and third innings as both defenses forced 12 straight outs and let no runners on base. Eau Claire found their first and only answer of the day in the top of the fourth inning as freshman Siri Springer batted in another freshman, Breann Blanchard, on a sacrifice bunt, making it 2-1. With their first run on the board, the Blugolds would keep the pressure high by tallying hits in the fourth and the sixth innings. The small burst of momentum wouldn’t be enough as UWEC left 3 of the 5 base runners on base in the final four innings of the game.

Despite being assessed the loss, freshman Lauren Trottier earned her first career start and first complete game for the Blugolds pitching six innings and surrendering just two runs on four hits and striking out two Warhawks.

The Blugolds (18-17, WIAC 7-7) drop to the bottom side of the bracket and will play either UW-Stout or UW-La Crosse on Friday in an elimination scenario. The first pitch from the UW-Oshkosh Rec Plex is set for 9 a.m.