Falcons split with Pointers

The Falcons women’s softball team split a double header with conference rivals UW-Stevens Point Sunday, bringing their overall record to 25-7 and conference record to 8-2.

With the split, they remain in second place in the WIAC, one game behind first place UW-Oshkosh and a half game ahead of Stevens Point.

Ashley Bertrand pitched all seven innings for the Falcons, earning the win while giving up two earned runs and eight hits. She struck out five. Pitcher Stephanie Anderson took the loss for Stevens Point giving up two earned runs on six hits.

Stevens Point struck first in the top of the fourth. Anderson led off the inning with a double to left center field. She was followed by third baseman Sarah Phillips, who also doubled to drive in the first run of the game. Alina Ziomek pinch ran for Phillips and after two outs were recorded, second baseman Chelsea McIlquham singled to drive her in.

The Falcons didn’t score until the sixth inning. Center fielder Rachel Mathias led off the inning, reaching first base on an error by the shortstop. Shortstop Mindy Rudiger followed with a double that advanced Mathias to third base. After a strikeout by pinch hitter Rebecca Troop, third baseman Emily Howlett singled. The hit scored Mathias and advanced Rudiger to third. Howlett was able to advance to second on the throw. First baseman Keri Feller singled in a run and right fielder Amanda Peters bunted to drive in another. Peters’ bunt was a suicide squeeze that head coach Faye Perkins deemed “perfect.”

That was enough for Bertrand, who shut down Stevens Point in the seventh for the 3-2 win.

“We had the attitude that Point had to beat us, not the other way around,” Bertrand said of the first game.

Hope Krause was the starting pitcher for Stevens Point in the second game, and limited the Falcons to seven hits and zero runs.

In the first inning, the Falcons loaded the bases with one out, but weren’t able to score when Peters lined into a double play.

“That was the turning point,” Perkins said. “[It] shifted the momentum to Stevens Point.”

After a scoreless first, the Pointers scored three runs in the second inning on two walks, a triple and an error.

Bertrand, who started for the Falcons, was removed after the second and replaced by Brittany Rathbun.

The Pointers scored one run in the third inning before exploding in the fourth inning with five. They had five hits in the inning including a three-run home run by shortstop Laura Van Abel. Van Abel went 3-for-3 in the game and scored two runs. Catcher Korryn Brooks singled following the home run, and Rathbun was pulled. She was replaced by Jessalyn Weaver.

Both teams failed to score in the fifth, and the game ended in a 9-0 Stevens Point victory. Bertrand took the loss, only her third of the season. Krause got the win for the Pointers, her 11th of the year.

“We just couldn’t string the hits together in the second game to score a run,” Rudiger said. “We had the opportunity in the first inning, but we weren’t able to get a run on the board.”

The Falcons play next on April 28 at noon vs. UW-Oshkosh at Ramer Field.