Box Score 1 |
Box Score 2 UW-River Falls 7, UW-Stout 6 |
UW-Stout 3, UW-River Falls 2 |
Photo Gallery
MENOMONIE, Wis. (April 18, 2012) - UW-Stout capped off the night with a dramatic win by pulling off the comback they could not quite complete in the doubleheader's first game.
Despite a valiant effort late in the ballgame, the Blue Devils (14-14, 4-4 WIAC) fell to UW-River Falls (20-9, 5-3 WIAC) in the first contest, 7-6, but a three-run bottom half of the seventh inning earned them a 3-2 win in the second, Wednesday evening at Alumni Field.
Down 7-0 in the bottom of the sixth inning, hopes were starting to fade for the Blue Devils, who had just two hits up to that point. The rally caps came out, however, when
Sam Stout (So, La Crosse) led the inning off with a single.
Taylor Workman (Fr, Prior Lake, Minn.) added a single, followed by a double by
Alison Gray (Jr, St. Cloud, Minn.), which drove in two runs. Two batters later,
Hannah Sweet (So, Elk River, Minn.) added a two-RBI double of her own, pulling the Blue Devils within three runs.
Jessica Nicol (Jr, Eau Claire) reached on an error, scoring Sweet, bringing
Jessica Behnke (So, Bruce) to the plate, representing the tying run. River Falls' Rose Tusa, who pitched three shutout innings to start the game, was brought back in to save what she had started. Two passed balls later, Nicol scored Stout's sixth run of the inning, but Tusa was able to strike out Behnke to end the madness.
Tusa stayed in the game through the seventh inning, tossing a total of four and one-third, allowing no runs on three hits.
Tara Kimberly (Sr, Baldwin) got the start for the Blue Devils, and allowed two earned runs in two and two-thirds innings.
In the following game, the Falcons again grabbed the first lead, but this time not as large of one. Menomonie native Amanda Ryder drove in River Falls' only two runs when she reached on a fielder's choice in the top of the third inning.
That score remained 2-0 into the bottom of the seventh. Pitcher
Laura Vanderhoof (So, Mankato, Minn.) began the inning with a walk, followed by a single by
Sam Stout. Two batters later,
Erin Moss (Jr, Munster, Ind.) hit a liner to the right-center wall, driving in two runs, and stood on third base with just one out. Gray stepped up to the plate and swung at the first pitch, driving it to center field, and Moss scored the game-winning run as she slid across home plate head first just ahead of the tag.
Vanderhoof pitched all seven innings, allowing just one earned run. She struck out five batters, as did her couterpart Tusa.
Stout will travel to UW-Whitewater this Saturday, April 21, and head to UW-Oshkosh on Sunday, April 22.
