UW-La Crosse’s women’s softball team opened their Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (WIAC) season nothing short of successful right here in La Crosse last Saturday, April 11. Over 175 enthusiastic fans had packed the stands to support the women in their home opener while they had a double header against UW-Stout.
The first game was taken by the Eagles with a score of 2-0. The Blue Devils had no chance for a second win either, falling 5-0 to UW-L. UW-L’s current record now reaches 16-6, while UW-S falls to 8-18. UW-L set the pace of the second game by putting four points on the board at the bottom of the first inning. Junior Emily Holldorf was the first Eagle to score. Following her was junior Megan Nelson, junior Alecia Faber and freshman Brooke Baldwin.
The second inning leaned in favor of the Eagles as well. Nelson put the final point of the game on the board, to bring the score to 5-0. This was due to an error on the Blue Devils behalf. The Eagles controlled the rest of the game. They closed out the Blue Devils quickly each inning. The pitches were accurate, leading to a few strikeouts. The Eagles were granted two walks.
At the bottom of the sixth, the Eagles left the Blue Devils nervous with bases loaded. Although no points were gained from this, UW-L showed UW-S their potential abilities. The game was closed after the top of the seventh inning.
The game closed with four errors from UW-S, and UW-L with only one. Junior Heather Grelle and sophomore Jessie Carignan were two of the pitchers for the game. Carnigan won 6-1 over Stout’s pitcher, who went 0-9. Carnigan threw five innings, while only allowing six hits and she had one strikeout. Grelle pitched for two innings, allowing only one hit then striking out two.
Although the women opened their home seasons with these two great conference wins, Coach Christopher Helixon elaborates on what the women did best and how they plan to improve for the remainder of the season.“All four of our pitchers mixed pitches well and held UW-Stout to zero runs, so I was very pleased with their performance,” Helixon said. “We played solid defense all day (just one error), but I would [have] liked to have seen us be more aggressive offensively. We have high aspirations, but it’s best for us to focus on one game at a time for now.”
The women took to the field again to play UW-River Falls and Luther College at home. They then hit the road to compete against four other WIAC schools. Any home games will be held at the North Campus Field, about a quarter mile down the road from the stadium on campus. Baseball and softball fields are located near the river trails, in the area around Myrick Park and the dog park.