Game Nine - #4 Eau Claire vs. #1 Oshkosh
EAU CLAIRE EDGES TOP-SEEDED TITANS
EAU CLAIRE – In the final game of the day the defending Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference Tournament champions UW-Eau Claire broke a 3-3 tie in the bottom of the ninth to defeat No.11 UW-Oshkosh 4-3 to advance to the finals of the winners’ bracket tomorrow.
The three extra inning games today mark a conference tournament record for most extra inning games in a single day. The tournament record is four back in the 2003 season. Eau Claire has now beaten Oshkosh three straight times in the conference tournament.
The Titans got on the scoreboard first with a Jennelle Schmidt single that scored two in the top of the first. The Blugolds responded in the bottom of the inning with a two-run home run by Michelle Butkus that just snuck inside the left field foul pole to tie it at 2-2.
Eau Claire took the lead in the bottom of the third when Jill Janke laid down a timely bunt that scored Rachel Paulus. Oshkosh evened up the game in the top of the fourth when Whitney Tyriver hit a single to center with two outs to drive in Schmidt.
Neither team would get a runner to third base until the top of the ninth when Oshkosh had Tina Prahl at third with two outs. However, Eau Claire’s Mallory McKinney induced a groundball right back to her to end the inning.
With one out in the bottom of the ninth Shannon Barone hit a double to right field. Then Bekki Kidnie stepped to the plate and hit a base hit right up the middle that scored Barone from second to end the game 4-3.
McKinney went the distance striking out six and allowing six hits in nine innings. The Blugolds will face UW-River Falls tomorrow morning at approximately 11 a.m. at Gelein Field. The Titans will play UW-Superior at 9 a.m. also at Gelein Field.
