Softball is swept by UW-Whitewater in home opener

It was a tough weekend for the UW-River Falls softball team as the Falcons dropped two games to the UW-Whitewater Warhawks in the team’s home and WIAC opener.

The Falcons went into Friday’s doubleheader with a 13-11 record, coming off a sweep over non-conference opponent Bethel University. Junior infielder Abby Veloske had a good feeling about her team going into the home opener.

“We felt good going into Friday’s games against Whitewater," Veloske said. "We were coming off of five wins, but we knew they were tough and we were going to have to be focused.”

The Warhawks went into Friday’s games with an 11-3 record and ranked 13th in the nation, according to NCAA.com. Two of the Warhawks' losses came against two ranked opponents, both ranked higher than Whitewater.

Friday’s games were a cold ones, with highs in the low 40s, but both teams had to deal with the weather as an issue during the game. In the first game, the Falcons got off to a hot start, holding the Warhawks to no runs on no hits in the first inning, which gave the Falcons a chance to get an early lead.

Junior infielder Sarah Sorensen got the first hit of the game with one out, and that was followed by a double by senior pitcher Abbie Morris, advancing Sorensen to third. Sophomore pitcher Michelle LaCasse came up big with an RBI single to score Sorensen and give the team a 1-0 lead.

Whitewater would score a run of its own in the top half of the second inning making the game 1-1. The game would remain tied until the top half of the sixth inning when Whitewater hit a two-run home run to take a 3-1 lead. The Falcons would be unable to answer, and would lose game one by a score of 3-1.

The momentum would continue for Whitewater in game number two. The game was scoreless through the first two innings until the Warhawks scored seven runs in two innings, giving the Warhawks a 7-0 lead after four innings of play. Whitewater would score four more in the sixth inning, as the game would end 11-0.

“We just couldn’t get anything going,” Morris said in a phone interview.

The Falcons will have six road games this week. On Thursday, the team will travel to Hamline University for a non-conference doubleheader. Over the weekend, the Falcons will play two WIAC doubleheaders. On Saturday, the team will travel to UW-Platteville, who are 8-10 on the season. On Sunday, the team will travel to UW-Lacrosse to take on the Eagles who are 14-6 and have yet to play a WIAC game.

Leading the charge for the Falcons will be Morris who leads the team with nine doubles, and sophomore outfielder Katie Thompson, who has four home runs on the season.