MARQUETTE, Mich. – The UW-Stevens Point softball team (2-4) suffered an extra-inning loss to start the final day of the Finlandia Dome Classic. UWSP could not overcome a two-run deficit in the eighth inning in a 6-5 loss to Lakeland. The Pointers mustered just two hits in an 8-0 five-inning loss to Concordia (Wis.) to close out the weekend.
Sophomores
Alyssa Cooper (Little Suamico, WI/Bay Port),
Justine Ertl (Menomonee Falls, WI/Menomonee Falls),
Paige Kitzing (Mount Pleasant, WI/J.J. Case) and
Payton Mix (New London, WI/New London) each collected two hits on Sunday. Cooper, Ertl and Kitzing each drove in a run as well.
Game 1 – UWSP 5, Lakeland 6 (8 innings)
The Pointers got a leadoff single from Cooper to start the bottom of the first. After advancing into scoring position on a ground out, she took third on a Lakeland error that put runners on the corners. Ertl stepped in and singled to right to give UWSP a 1-0 lead.
Lakeland came right back and got a run in the top of the second with three-consecutive singles. The damage was limited as Mix threw out a runner at the plate to end the frame.
Mix hit a ground-rule double with one away in the bottom of the inning.
Sydney Opdahl (Greenfield, WI/Whitnall) followed suit to push home the first run of the inning. Cooper and Jacobson each drove in a run in the three-run frame giving the Pointers a 4-1 lead.
The Muskies got a run back in the top of the fifth without the benefit of a hit. Two walks, a hit batter and a wild pitch allowed the run to score.
Lakeland tied the game in the seventh. Two hits and an error allowed the first run to score. Later in the frame, a sac fly knotted the game at 4-4. The Pointers were retired in order in the bottom half to send the game to extras.
The Muskies pushed home two runs in the top of the eighth courtesy of a wild pitch and a RBI ground out.
In the bottom of the eighth, consecutive ground outs scored the runner from second, but a third ground out ended the game in favor of the Muskies.
Freshman
Ashley Cohen (Wheaton, Ill./Glenbard South) pitched the final 3.1 innings and recorded two strikeouts.
Game 2 – UWSP 0, Concordia (Wis.) 8 (5 innings)
Paige Allen (South Elgin, IL/South Elgin) hit a ground-rule double in the top of the first, but UWSP could not convert the one-hit into a run.
Concordia scored the first run of the game in the second inning. The Falcons pushed across four more runs in the third inning.
Two more runs crossed in the Concordia fourth inning. The Falcons ended the game with a run in the fifth following a leadoff triple.
Mix accounted for the only other Pointers' hit with a single in the third inning.
Maddie Durie (Appleton, WI/East) struck out two in relief for UWSP.
The Pointers head to Florida for the PFX Spring Games beginning on March 16 at 1:00 p.m. ET against Macalester.
