On Friday, March 28, the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse Softball team played a doubleheader in their home opener for the 2025 season against the Milwaukee School of Engineering (MSOE) Raiders.
In the first game, the Eagles gave up a run in the first inning after an error and a passed ball, giving the Raiders a 1-0 lead. The Eagles would not respond until the third inning, when Marissa Pease and Carly Gross both hit singles. Amber Gonzalez reached on a fielder’s choice, advancing Pease and tied the game at 1-1.
The Eagles would score again in the third inning, after Brooke Howard hit a triple to right center field and Gonzalez scored, earning Howard a run batted in (RBI) and giving the Eagles the lead over the Raiders 2-1.
In the fifth inning, the Eagles scored again. The Eagles took the lead after Abbey Bosch singled to center and was pinch run by Cristin Casey. Casey stole second base and scored after Maddy Bornbach doubled to center field, making the score 3-1.
The Eagles would score for the final time in the bottom of the fifth inning. Howard walked and stole second base, earning her ninth stolen base (SB) of the season. Bosch bunted and reached first, which advanced Kyra Lard to second and Howard to third.
With two outs in the fifth, Lindsay Steien hit a two-RBI single on a ball hit down the third base line, putting the Eagles up 5-1.
Neither team would score again for the rest of the contest and the Eagles would take the first matchup against the Raiders.
Steien led the Eagles in RBIs with 2. Bosch contributed 3 hits, with Pease adding two singles. Four Eagles walked in the contest. Brynne Bieri earned the win, advancing to 3-2 on the season. Bieri struck out 3 of 18 batters faced and gave up 3 hits. Carmen Follette pitched the last three innings, earning her fourth save of the season.
In the second game, the Eagles run-ruled the Raiders in five innings with a score of 9-0. The Eagles started off hot, with Lard scoring on a single to left center field from Howard after being walked. The Raiders gave up another single to center field and Bornbach advanced to second on a wild throw, bringing in Bosch to score, putting the Eagles up 2-0.
The Eagles scored five runs in the bottom of the second inning, with the first RBI coming after Gonzalez advanced Gross to third and scored Steien on a fielder’s choice. Howard then singled to left and scored Gross, giving the Eagles a 4-0 lead.
Howard advanced to third on a passed ball and scored after Lard singled to right. Lard advanced to second on a single by Bosch. Lard and Bosch scored the last two runs in the second inning off the bat of Bornbach, who doubled to right center and earned 2 RBI, scoring Lard and Bosch.
The Eagles would score for the final time in the bottom of the fourth inning, again off the bat of Bornbach, scoring Lard from second base. A sacrifice ground out from Ava Jaehnke advanced Bornbach to second. Bornbach later scored on a wild pitch to make the Eagles’ lead 9-0.
With just three outs to play, the Raiders were unable to mount a comeback in the top of the fifth and the game concluded with an Eagles victory of 9-0.
For the Eagles, Bornbach had 3 hits, including a two-RBI double, and led the team in RBI with four in the contest. Five players had two hits in the contest. Kaeley Niemiec earned her sixth win of the season, with 5.0 IP, 8 SO.
The pair of victories are the team’s advance the team’s record to 15-9 and 2-0 at home. The Eagles’ next match will come against Saint Mary’s University (Minn.) at 3p.m. on Wednesday, April 9 in Winona, MN.
