UW-Eau Claire women’s softball enjoyed an offensive outburst on March 7-8 against Augsburg University and St. Norbert College in a pair of doubleheader matchups.
Throughout the four games, the Blugolds scored 53 runs and hit 10 home runs. Their 27 runs scored against Augsburg was the most runs scored by the Blugolds in a two-game series since 2015.
In the first game of the doubleheader versus Augsburg, the Blugolds scored six runs in the bottom of the first inning. Third-year outfielder Norah Kutnink’s two-run home run was her first deep fly of the season.
Third-year pitcher Lauren Trottier, who made two starts over the weekend, struck out four Augsburg hitters in five scoreless innings. Trottier induced seven flyouts and four groundouts while allowing four hits.
Head Coach Leslie Huntington said Trottier has not pitched her best yet this season.
“She throws pretty hard, and she’s got a really good offspeed pitch, and that’s what we rely really heavily on,” Huntington said. “We just need her to continue to get better and better as the season goes on.”
Scoring two runs in the bottom of the fourth inning, the Blugolds shut out Augsburg 8-0 in five innings due to the mercy rule. The division three mercy rule is that if a team is leading by eight or more runs by the fifth inning, the game is over.
Just like the first game, the Blugolds scored six first-inning runs in the second game of the series. First-year infielder Breeley Gluch went deep on a 1-2 count for her third three-run home run on the season .
During the two doubleheaders, four first-year athletes hit home runs, resulting in a collective total of 22 runs.
Third-year catcher and infielder Molly Marquardt said the Blugolds’ first-year athletes are feeding into each other and showing how good they are.
“Each person is just as good as the next, and they’re going to keep getting better because the person next to them is getting better,” Marquardt said.
Within the second, third and fourth inning, the Blugolds put up 13 runs. Fourth-year infielder Hailey Hagedorn, pitcher Claire Beck and Marquardt all hit home runs in the third inning. Beck hit two home runs in the game and drove in three runs.
Augsburg’s Lola Pilon scored the lone run for the away team, going deep for her third home run of the season.
With the 19-1 win and their second two-game series sweep of the season, the Blugolds hosted the St. Norbert College Green Knights the next day on Sunday, March 8.
In the first inning, a Blugold error and a pair of fielder’s choices resulted in a 3-0 lead for the Green Knights.
In the top of the sixth inning — St.Norbert up 4-0 — Grendel Sprong hit a solo home run to extend the Green Knights’ lead to 5-0. Another home run in the seventh inning from St. Norbert’s Morgan Hansel on the first pitch gave the Green Knights another insurance run.
While the Blugolds were able to score four runs in the bottom of the seventh inning off a pair of infield errors, they came up short and lost 6-4. The Blugolds’ two errors in the game allowed the two runs that ended up making the difference in the final score.
“We made a couple of bad decisions on defense that hurt us,” Huntington said. “It was disappointing because we’ve spent the entire last week on defense, and I felt really good about where we were.”
In three innings on the mound, Trottier allowed just one hit and induced seven ground balls while allowing zero runs for consecutive starts.
After a pair of six-run first innings in both the Augsburg games, the Blugolds scored 10 first- inning runs while facing three different Green Knight pitchers. Blugold hitters had five extra-base hits in the inning.
Entering the bottom of the fourth inning with a score of 15-0, first-year Blugolds Emily Ovaska and Kennedy Tumm collected their first hits of their collegiate career by hitting home runs. First-year infielder Jane Wallace followed with a solo home run, her second of the season.
In five innings, the Blugolds defeated the Green Knights 22-0. The 22 runs scored by the Blugolds is tied for the third-most in a single game in program history. The shutout for the Blugolds’ pitching staff was the second shutout on the season.
“Our identity on offense is to score as many runs as possible,” Huntington said. “That takes the pressure off your pitchers and your defense.”
Marquardt went 7-13 on the weekend with two home runs and nine runs batted in. She said one at-bat isn’t different than the next.
“I take every at-bat the same, and every single time I’m looking to hit the ball as hard as I can,” Marquardt said.
With three wins over the weekend, the Blugolds are 6-4 on the season. Their next games will be at the Space Coast Spring Games on March 13-17 in Melbourne, Florida.
Benes can be reached at [email protected].
