STEVENS POINT – After a postponement and a rain delay, a champion of the 2008 Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (WIAC) Softball Tournament was finally determined and it took the full 16 games to decide it as UW-Oshkosh won its first conference title since the 1985 season.

The win gives Oshkosh the WIAC’s automatic bid to the 59-team NCAA Division III Tournament that begins next weekend.

After winning, their first two games on Saturday, including a 3-1 win over UW-Eau Claire that ended at approximately 12:15 a.m. Sunday morning, the Titans began Sunday with a game against UW-River Falls, who upset the No.1 UW-Whitewater the night before.

In that first game of the day, the Titans needed just two runs on four hits as the Titans prevailed by a score of 2-1 to move on to the championship game. In the title game, the Titans wound up facing UW-River Falls again, who eliminated UW-Eau Claire. The elimination of Eau Claire meant the two-time defending tournament champion Blugolds would not three-peat.

The Falcons got things rolling right off the bat in the championship game as Mindy Rudiger hit her second leadoff home run in as many games in the top of the first to give River Falls a 1-0 lead. The Falcons added another run in the inning to take a 2-0 lead.

Oshkosh came right back in the bottom of the inning as Whitney Tornow hit a two-run home run over the left field fence to tie it up at 2-2. River Falls regained the lead back in the third as Emily Howlett scored on a Titan-error to make it 3-2. That score held up as Oshkosh was held to three hits as the Falcons forced a second championship game. River Falls had beaten the one, two, three, and four seeds entering the 16th and deciding game.

The second championship game started just like the first one, but this time Oshkosh batted first as Amie Heinzelman hit a leadoff home run to give the Titans the early lead. After two quick outs in the top of the fourth, the Titans did their damage. Dani Olsen hit a two-run double to make it 3-0. Whitney Tornow followed with another RBI double as Oshkosh led 4-0. Amy Steltenpohl had another RBI single as the lead blossomed to 5-0.

Ronessa Stampfli was cruising on the mound as she did not allow a hit until Mindy Rudiger hit a solo home run in the bottom of the fourth to make it 5-1. After Oshkosh got a run in the fifth to make it 6-1, Kayla Kodet hit a bases-clearing double in the sixth to make it 9-1. The Titans got a double play to end it in the sixth as Oshkosh won its third conference title in team history.

The Titans will now wait until Monday to find out what regional they will be put in and who will join them at that regional.