Eau Claire 6, Stout 2 |
Stout 8, Eau Claire 0 (5 inn)
MENOMONIE (April 8, 2009) - Nelly Peterson (Sr, Cumberland) hit a three-run walk-off home run in the bottom of the fifth inning as UW-Stout blanked defending national champion UW-Eau Claire, 8-0, Wednesday at Alumni Field. The Blugolds won the first game, 6-2.
Stout (12-12, 2-4) built a 5-0 lead going into the fifth.
With one out, winning pitcher Kristy Hoffman (Jr, Circle Pines, Minn) reached on an error by the first baseman. She moved to second on Kat Nelson's (Fr, Chippewa Falls) ground out. Another Eau Claire error allowed Sammy Peterson (Fr, Hudson) on base, setting up Peterson who rode an 0-1 pitch to left centerfield.
Stout took advantage of several errors, both physical and mental, b by the seventh ranked Eau Claire (18-5, 6-2) who committed four errors in the game.
Nelson opened the Blue Devils' half of the first inning by reaching on an error, then came home on Jenna Johnson's (Jr, Menomonie) home run to left-center two batters later.
Lisa Reiter (So, Elgin, Minn) and Katie Fichter (Sr, Baraboo) delivered back-to-back doubles, with Fichter's smash to the base of the fence scoring Reiter in the second.
Stout added two more runs in the fourth inning, mostly by reaching on three consecutive fielders' choices where all runners were safe.
After the opening stanza, Hoffman was extremely efficient in her five innings of work, scattering four hits, with three coming consecutively in the first inning. But she forced a two-out groundout to shortstop with the bases loaded to get out of the first inning jam. For the game, Hoffman walked one and struck out two.
Reiter was 2-for-3 with a one run scored as the designated player.
Stout's last win over the Blugolds came on May 7, 2005, in the WIAC Tournament championship game. This game marks the first time Stout has beaten Eau Claire by the 8-run rule since a 13-3 win, May 2, 1994.
In game one, Eau Claire relief pitchers Ashley Meinen and Jenny Ross combined for nine strikeouts. Meinen pitched three innings with six strikeouts, while Ross pitched the final inning, striking out three while facing four batters.
Eau Claire took a 4-0 lead with one run in the first and three in the second.
Stout cut the lead in half with a pair of runs in the second inning when Hoffman, who took the loss in game one, drove in two runs.
The Blugolds added two more runs in the fifth inning.
Stout returns to action Friday, April 10 when they travel to UW-River Falls for a 2 p.m. start. Stout will be at Hamline University, Monday, April 13.
