OSHKOSH — The UW-Whitewater softball team fell to UW-Platteville 8-7 in a WIAC Tournament Semifinal game hosted by Oshkosh Saturday afternoon.
The third-seeded Warhawks made an impressive comeback, but the number two seeded Pioneers came out with the narrow win. The teams traded runs across three innings with UWP getting on the board first.
In the bottom of the second, the Pioneers pushed three runs across the plate for the early lead. UWW quickly cut the margin to one with a pair of runs in the top of the third.
Maggie Ward legged out a bunt to open the frame. Dani Peshia followed with a walk and was relieved on the base paths by Belle Lapacek. Rachel Radish sacrificed the duo into scoring position and Emma Giese capitalized. The powerful righty laced a double off the left center wall to bring in both runs.
UW-Whitewater canceled out Platteville’s single run in the bottom of the third with their own score in the top of the fourth. JJ Jakosalem and Grace Grabowy drew back-to-back walks to kick start the inning. Bella Eggert advanced both runners on a sacrifice bunt. With two outs, Peshia tagged a hard grounder through the 5-6 hole and into left field to plate the run and make the score 4-3.
A big fourth inning for the Pionners extended the gap to 7-3, but the Warhawks didn’t quit. In the top of the fifth, Giese walked and Auburn Roberson followed with a hard single through the left side. The pair moved up 60 feet on Kaitlyn Weidemann’s sacrifice bunt. Liv Ybarra put the ball in play in a pinch hit appearance to tally the RBI and narrow the gap to three, 7-4.
The UWW defense held UWP at scoreless in the bottom of the fifth and the offense capitalized on the momentum shift.
Ward drew a one out walk before Peshia tagged a double to right center. Radish’s cue shot caught everyone off guard and the speedster beat out the throw to load the bases. Giese stepped to the plate and took one for the team for the RBI hit-by-pitch. Roberson came up with a huge hit — another single through the left side — to bring in two more and knot the game at 7-7.
With two outs in the bottom of the sixth, a solo homer for the Pioneers gave UWP the lead. Brooke Hock struck out the next batter to bring up the Warhawk offense.
UW-Whitewater threatened in the top of the seventh with two runners on with less than two outs, but the Warhawks were unable to push the tying run across.
Peshia and Roberson led UWW with a pair of hits each while Giese drove in three on the day. Hock suffered the loss in the circle.
