WHITEWATER, Wis. – The UW-Stevens Point softball team (23-16) came up just short in a 2-1 extra-innings loss to UW-Whitewater (28-8) in the WIAC Tournament (presented by Culver's) semifinals.
 
Maddie Candre (St. Charles, Ill./East) led off the game with an infield single, one of three UWSP hits in the game.  She stole second with two outs and tried to score on a base hit from Sammy Buerger (Oshkosh, Wis./North), but was cut down at the plate to end the frame.
 
UWSP pitcher Makenna Tkach (Streator, Ill./Marquette Academy) struck out the side in the bottom of the first, her only three strikeouts of the game.  Tkach pitched a complete game and didn't allow a hit until the fifth inning.
 
In the top of the fifth, Becca Geiyer (Grayslake, Ill./Warren Township) drilled a 3-2 pitch over the center field wall for her second home run of the season.  Her two-out dinger gave UWSP a 1-0 lead.
 
UWW tied the game in the sixth with a leadoff hit and a two-out hit.  The Warhawks nearly took the lead in the sixth, but a massive diving catch by Rachael Wakefield (River Falls, Wis./River Falls) kept the game tied heading to the seventh.
 
Neither team scored in the seventh and UWSP was held off the board in the eighth.  The Warhawks won the game in the eighth with a leadoff home run to end the Pointers' season.
 
UWSP finished with 23 wins, the most since 2011.  The Pointers ended the season with a school record 83 stolen bases this season, breaking the previous record of 67 set in 2003.  Tkach ended the year with a league-best 17 wins and her 131 strikeouts were more than any other WIAC hurler.