Stout splits with River Falls, wins first, falls in second

UW-Stout 9, UW-River Falls 8 | UW-River Falls 8, UW-Stout 6 | Photo Gallery

RIVER FALLS (April 21, 2017) - Coming from behind proved to be the theme for UW-Stout as the Blue Devils split a pair of WIAC games Friday at Ramer Field. The Blue Devils overcame an early deficit in game one but came back to win the contest 9-8. But the Blue Devils dropped their first conference contest of the season, coming back from trailing 5-1 to tie the game, but saw the Falcons win the nightcap, 8-6.

Stout (14-14, 3-1 WIAC) came back from a 4-1 deficit - the Blue Devils' first run came on a solo home run by Alicia Meyer in the first inning - to tie the game with three runs in the fifth, then took the lead with a five-run sixth inning, highlighted by eventual game winning pitcher McKayla Brunner's two-run double.

"We have played some amazing softball over the season with some big wins happening after being down," said Blue Devil coach Becky Iaccino. "So believing in themselves and that they can do it, is because they know they can, they've already done it, and that's why we keep fighting."

The Falcons (11-16, 3-3 WIAC)  came within one run with a four-run outburst in the bottom of the seventh, highlighted by Shannon Borchardt's three-run home run.

Freshman Katelyn Schobert was 2-for-4, including beating out an bunt for a hit, and scored two runs. Brunner and Kyncaide Diedrich each finished with two RBI, Diedrich without getting a hit. Diedrich drove in one run with a sacrifice fly and in reaching on an error.

In game two, Stout took a 1-0 lead in the first inning, but a second inning two-run home run by the Falcons' Noelle Senour, followed up by Ali Murray's three run shot in the third gave the Falcons a 5-1 lead. Stout tied the score with four runs in the fourth. Stout's Heather Bol had a two-run single, and finished the game with three RBI.
 
The Falcons took the game with a three run fourth on RBIs by Lexi Dupee, Alyana Ledwein and Ali Krohn.

Both teams racked up a fair amount of hits.In game one, the Falcons had eight hits to Stout's seven.  In game two, the Falcons pounded out 11 hits to Stout's 10.
 
Stout's loss was their first WIAC loss. The Falcons loss was their first home loss of the season.