Issued: April 20, 2004

SOFTBALL SPLITS WITH YELLOWJACKETS

SUPERIOR - The UW-Eau Claire softball team split a doubleheader with conference opponent UW-Superior, dropping the opener 5-3 and winning the nightcap 3-1 in 10 innings here today at the Wade Bowl.

The Blugolds remain in second place in the Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference standings with a mark of 9-3 and sit at 18-13 overall. The Yellowjackets move to 23-6 for the season and 5-5 in WIAC action.

Eau Claire totaled 10 hits in the opening game of the doubleheader but managed only three runs in the loss. The Blugolds gave up a 3-0 lead in the bottom of the sixth inning, allowing five runs, only two of them earned.

With the score tied at zero in the top of the fourth Heidi Bohl (Fr.-Chippewa Falls/Chi-Hi) knocked a two-out, two-RBI single to put the Blugolds ahead. Steph Farenbaugh (So.-Brownton, MN/McLeod West) added a sacrifice fly in the sixth inning to give Eau Claire a 3-0 lead but the Jackets made their move in the bottom half of the frame. Superior scored five runs without an extra-base hit, totaling four singles and a walk and capitalizing on a Blugold error to score the five runs.

Molly Johnson (So.-Wisconsin Rapids/Lincoln) took the loss in relief while the Yellowjackets' Abby Glawe earned the complete game win.

The Blugold pitching duo of Andrea Neuville (So.-Green Bay/West) and Mallory McKinney (Fr.-Brooklyn Park, MN/Champlin Park) shut down Superior in the nightcap. Neuville pitched 5 2/3 innings of one run ball but McKinney earned the win in relief, allowing only two hits and no runs over the final 4 1/3 innings.

The Jackets got on the board in the bottom of the first with an RBI triple by Monica Brzezinski and the score remained 1-0 until the top of the fifth, when Emilee Planert (Sr.-Eau Claire/North) tied the game with an RBI single.

The two teams combined for just four hits from the bottom of the fifth until the beginning of the tenth, when the Blugolds loaded the bases with two outs on the third Superior walk of the inning. Amber Haack (Fr.-Madison/La Follette) then hit a ball to the Yellowjacket shortstop who committed an error on the play, allowing the go-ahead run to score. Rachel Paulus (Fr.-Wisconsin Rapids/Lincoln) followed with an RBI single to provide the Blugolds some insurance.

McKinney pitched a scoreless bottom of the 10th for the win.

Planert and Beth Steward (Sr.-Chippewa Falls/Chi-Hi) notched two hits apiece in the win. McKinney finished the first game three-for-four.

The Blugolds will travel to St. Mary's, Minn. on Thursday to battle non-conference opponent St. Mary's.