By Cristy Brusoe

Published May 07, 2010

The UW-River Falls’ softball team begins WIAC Tournament play against UW-La Crosse on Friday, May 7. The tournament runs through May 9 and is being hosted at UWOshkosh. The Falcons are ranked as the number six seed in the tournament after losing a coin toss for the number five seed with UW-Oshkosh.

The UWRF Falcons, who are 24-14 overall this season, are 9-7 in WIAC play.

The UWRF softball team has won the WIAC Tournament three times, the last time being in 1994. However, this year poses quite the initial challenge for the Falcons.

UWLC finished the WIAC season with a perfect record of 16-0, and is the number one seed in the tournament. In regular season play, the UWLC Eagles beat the Falcons twice in River Falls. The first game was 4-3, and the second 4-1. The Eagles are 32-6 overall and are ranked 21 on the NFCA poll.

This year, the Falcons hold a record of 8-4 at home, and 16-10 on the road.

Sarah Fern leads the team this year in home runs with eight. Jessica Lundgren leads the team with a .455 batting average and 61 hits. Rose Tusa has been leading the way at pitcher with an ERA of 1.67 and a record of 14-8.

The Falcons have been on a roll as of late and it’s come at the perfect time. The team had won 13 out of their last 17 games before losing two games to UW-Whitewater.

Head Coach Jody Gabriel believes the team has done very well this season and has high hopes going into the WIAC Tournament.

“We have the talent and drive to win the WIAC tournament, and the team has made that our goal,” Gabriel said.

If the Falcons win, they will play the loser of the UW-Whitewater vs. UW-Superior game. If the Falcons lose, they will play the loser of the UW-Eau Claire vs. UW-Oshkosh game.