THIS WEEK'S GAMES: The Blue Devils (3-14, 0-7 WIAC) will travel to UW-Eau Claire (17-9, 6-2 WIAC), Thursday, April 22 at 4 p.m. and the games will be a pair of non-conference games. The games were originally scheduled for Tuesday, but weather forced the move to two day's later. Stout returns to conference action by traveling to UW-Platteville (9-11, 3-5 WIAC), Saturday, April 24
THE 2021 WIAC SCHEDULE: Teams will play their usual 14-game regular-season league schedule, while the conference tournament has been expanded to eight teams with quarterfinal games between the No. 8 seed/No. 1 seed, No. 7 seed/No. 2 seed, No. 6 seed/No. 3 seed and No. 5 seed/No. 4 seed on May 11. The winning teams will advance to the semifinals on May 13. The quarterfinal and semifinal games will be hosted by the higher seed. The championship will feature the two semifinal winners in a three-game series on May 15 and 16 (if necessary) at the higher seed. The teams will also play several non-conference games among themselves.
2021 UW-Stout Schedule
Date / Opponent / Time or Result
Sat, Feb 27 / vs. UW-Superior / W 8-6, W 7-6
Fri, March 5 / vs. Bethel / L 12-0 (5); L 2-0
Sat, March 20 / at St. Thomas / L 12-4 (5); L 8-0 (6)
Sun, March 21 / at St. Benedict / L 13-4 (6); W 6-5
Wed, March 24 / at Luther / L 13-0 (5), L 9-5
Sat, March 27 / at Bethany Lutheran / canceled
Sun, March 28 / at Crown College / canceled
Thu, Apr 8 / UW-Eau Claire* / L 7-1, L 6-0
Sat, Apr 10 / at UW-La Crosse* / L 4-2
Wed, Apr 14 / at UW-River Falls* / L 5-3, L 4-3
Sat, Apr 17 / UW-Whitewater* / L 9-0 (6), L 5-4
Thu, Apr 22 / at UW-Eau Claire / 4 p.m.
Sat, Apr 24 / at UW-Platteville* / 2 p.m.
Wed, Apr 28 / UW-La Crosse* / 4 p.m.
Fri, Apr 30 / UW-Oshkosh* / 4 p.m.
Tue, May 4 / UW-River Falls / 4 p.m.
Fri, May 7 / UW-Stevens Point* / 7 p.m.
Tue, May 11 / WIAC First Round / TBA
Thu, May 13 / WIAC Second Round / TBA
Sat, May 15 / WIAC Championship / TBA
UW-STOUT: Stout carries a large, 25-player roster, led by seniors first baseman
Meghan Kelly, catcher
Michala Belter and pitchers
Melea Bruns and
Sommer Kunstmann. Juniors Jessica Christianson,
Korin Hall,
Kelly Beck, Maddie Kleinschmidt,
Addison Murry,
Kaylee Peterson, and
Shannon Jones, sophomores
Kayli Pfeffer,
Kate Funk,
Allegra Larson,
Maggie O'Brien, and
Mackensie Wolterstorff, and freshmen
Ashley Jacobson,
Katelyn Belleau,
Taylor Mancl,
Alyssa Albrecht,
Jordan Caby,
Lexy Kupczak,
Amanda Shipley and
Bella Anderson make up the remainder of the roster. It was 356 days in between games from when the 2020 season was canceled to when the Blue Devils opened with UW-Superior, Feb. 27. Following a 19-18 overall record in 2019, Stout went 3-1 last season before the season came to a premature end after a pair of games March 8, 2020, in Rosemount, Ill. Practices resumed in the fall in a socially-distanced way and, at the beginning, in pods to keep the numbers down on the field. Indoor practice resumed in late January with the entire team working together. Becky Iaccino begins her sixth season as the Blue Devil head coach. She is assisted by Chris Iliopoulos, Jessica Stine and Sam Hintzman.
AT THE PLATE: Shortstop
Shannon Jones leads the Blue Devils at the plate, hitting .370 (17-46) with a double, home run and eight RBI. Outfielder
Kaylee Peterson is sporting an eight game hitting streak and is hitting .348 (16-46) with a team-high four doubles, a triple and five RBI. Outfielder
Korin Hall is hitting .314 (16-41) and leads the team in runs scored with 12. . First baseman
Meghan Kelly leads the team in RBI with nine and has three doubles.
IN THE CIRCLE: Melea Bruns and
Sommer Kunstmann have taken on the majority of starts, with each starting eight games. Kunstmann has 10 appearances with 41.2 innings pitched and Bruns nine appearances with 38.0 innings pitched. Sophomore
Mackensie Wolterstorff and junior Maddie Kleinschmidt have come on in relief roles, but Wolterstorff has earned one start. Wolterstorff is 1-1 and Kleinschmidt is 1-0, while Bruns is 1-7, and Kunstmann 0-6. Kunstmann leads the team in strikeouts with 17, while Wolterstorff has 15 Ks in 9.2 innings pitched.
BLUE DEVILS LAST TIME OUT: Trailing 3-1 in the bottom of the sixth with two outs, freshman
Katelyn Belleau ripped a bases loaded triple to right field to put UW-Stout ahead of UW-Whitewater, 4-3, but the Warhawks scored two runs in the top of the seventh to defeat the Blue Devils, 5-4, Saturday at Alumni Field. Whitewater, which had won the first game 9-0 in six innings, scored two runs in the second inning on a Kayleigh O'Brien two-run home run and stretched the lead to 3-0 with a solo run in the fifth inning. Stout put together the four-run sixth inning after
Kaylee Peterson reached on an error.
Shannon Jones moved Peterson to third. An out later, pitcher
Melea Bruns scored Peterson with a sacrifice fly to right field. Stout loaded the bases and Belleau, the No. 9 batter in the order, delivered a shot the fell in front of a diving right fielder to Stout their first lead of the day. The Warhawks' small-balled their way to runners on second and third and Meg Cohrs drove in the runs with a single to center field. Stout got a pair of base runners with one out in the bottom of the seventh to give themselves a chance. with back-to-back singles by Peterson and Jones. But a line-out double play ended the game. Jones was 3 for 4 to lead Stout. Peterson was 2 for 4. Cohrs was 2 for 4 to lead Whitewater. Whitewater used a four-run fifth and two-run sixth inning to power their way to the first game win. Cohrs was 3 for 3 with five RBI to lead Whitewater,
Korin Hall was 2 for 3 for Stout.
SCOUTING UW-EAU CLAIRE: Coming into the week, the Blugolds are leading the league in team batting average (.337) and home runs (25). Seven Blugolds have hit at least two home runs with Sadie Erickson leading the way with five round trippers. Abbey Place, Bailee Sillman, Maria Back and Meghan Witt have each hit four home runs and Ellie Decker has collected two. Erickson is second in the WIAC in average at .517 (45-87), has a slugging percentage of .851, with eight doubles, three triples and the five home runs. She has scored a league-best 31 runs and stolen a league-best 13 bases. Place is hitting .433 (35-90) and has a league-best 11 doubles. Madi Zerr and Morgan Sivak have started all by three games, with Zerr (7-4) posting an ERA of 2.25 in 11 starts with 36 strikeouts. Sivak (7-3) has and ERA of 4.10 with 35 strikeouts. Abbey Cook has made 10 appearances and has earned two saves.
LAST TIME OUT: Eau Claire split at Oshkosh April 17, taking game 6-2 over the Titans before falling in the nightcap, 11-9. The Blugolds never trailed in game one after taking a 2-0 lead in the first inning. They would tack on two more runs in the second and fifth. Sadie Erickson led the Blugold offense, going 3-for-4 with one run and an RBI. Katelyn Yute and Megan Maruna each recorded two hits while Maruna also drove in two runs. Senior hurler Morgan Sivak picked up her seventh win of the season, striking out one and giving up six hits and two runs over four innings. The second game proved to be a back-and-forth battle, but it was the Titans who rallied for three runs in the bottom of the sixth to take the lead for good, winning by a score of 11-9. Eau Claire put up four runs in the second, but Oshkosh would score a run in the second and third and four in the fourth to take a 6-4 lead. Both teams would tally two runs in the fifth and the Blugolds would push three across in the sixth to take a 9-8 lead. But the Titans would not be outdone, scoring three runs of their own to take a 11-9 advantage into the seventh. Eau Claire would continue to fight, getting back-to-back singles with one out. However, a double play would end the game. Bailee Sillman led Eau Claire at the plate in game two, finishing 3-for-3 with a run scored and two RBIs while Yute and Maruna would again tally two hits apiece. Abbey Cook took the loss for Eau Claire, giving up four hits and striking out one in one inning of relief.
LAST TIME THEY MET: Just before introductions were to occur, the heavens opened and dumped a downpour on UW-Stout's Alumni Field, pushing the WIAC softball opener between UW-Stout and UW-Eau Claire back nearly an hour. The downpour did the Blue Devils no favors as Eau Claire captured the day, 7-1, 6-0, April 8 in Menomonie. Both games were tight in the beginning, but the Blugolds found a couple of key innings in both games to take the day. Eau Claire opened the day with a single run in the first inning of game one. The next two innings went scoreless until Eau Claire scored a single run in the fourth, then broke open for four runs on five hits, including a home run and a triple, in the fifth. Eau Claire added another run in the sixth, then looked like they were going to add more in the seventh, but the Blugolds left the bases loaded. The Blue Devils broke up the shutout in the seventh inning. With two outs,
Kaylee Peterson smacked a double to center field and came home when
Shannon Jones' hit to center was misplayed. Eau Claire held a 12-4 advantage in hits as Stout used three pitchers.
Sommer Kunstmann took the loss, working the first four innings, then came back to finish the final inning, striking out two.
Mackensie Wolterstorff pitched two innings, striking out five. Eau Claire had two hits each from Sadie Erickson, Abbey Place, Maria Back and Taylor Nelson. Morgan Sivek went the distance for the win. In game two, Eau Claire scored a run in the second, then jumped out to a 3-1 lead in the fourth, added two more hits in the sixth and one in the seventh and held a 14-4 advantage in hits. Stout drew five walks, but stranded seven runners. Eau Claire stranded 10 runners.
SCOUTING UW-PLATTEVILLE: Rachel Plautz leads the team in average at .400 (22-55). Claire Bakkestuen has a team-best 18 RBI and Shannon Gaul has 16 RBI. The teams are scheduled to meet again Saturday, May 1, in Menomonie in a pair of non-conference games.
LAST TIME OUT: Platteville softball team dropped both games of Tuesday's doubleheader at the UW-Oshkosh Softball Park. UW-Oshkosh took sole possession of first in the WIAC after holding on for a narrow 3-2 win in game one over UW-Platteville (9-11, 3-5 WIAC) and then defeating the Pioneers 8-4 in the nightcap. Sophomore Amanda Stanczuk paced the Pioneers in game one going 2-for-3 with one RBI. Junior Angela Laabs and senior Haili Cota each went 2-for-3 and led the Pioneers in game two. The Pioneers tallied three doubles among the 14 hits while committing just one error across the two contests. Game two saw an early 6-0 lead in favor of UW-Oshkosh after two innings. UW-Platteville had a big sixth inning, scoring three runs and cutting the Titans' lead to 8-4. However, it would not be enough as UW-Oshkosh retired the first three Pioneers of the seventh inning to lock down the win and the WIAC doubleheader sweep. Platteville split with UW-River Falls, April 18, losing the first, 7-4, but winning the second, 11-0. Claire Bakkestuen had two home runs in the second game for the Pioneers. Rachel Plautz drove in three runs. in the second game that saw the Pioneers score eight runs in the fourth inning. In opener, it was River Falls that had the big inning, scoring all seven runs in the third inning.
LAST TIME THEY MET: The Blue Devils swept the day when the teams last met April 6, 2019, in Platteville. Stout took wins of 5-2, 10-9. Stout holds a 31-18 advantage in the series and the Blue Devils have won the last five games. Dating back to 2010, Stout has won 18 of 20 decisions over the Pioneers.
COACH BECKY IACCINO: Blue Devil coach Becky Iaccino (83-88 Stout / 101-108 overall) is in her sixth year as the head coach of the Blue Devils with the 2021 season. Iaccino played professionally in Italy
from 2003 to 2011 and with the Italian National team from 2005-07. She has been the head coach at Marian University where she was selected as conference coach of the year, and has eight years of experience as an assistant coach at Division I and Division III programs. (80-74, 98-94 before 2021 season began).
AWARDS AND HONORS: 2021:
Korin Hall was named the WIAC position player of the week and
Mackensie Wolterstorff the WIAC pitcher of the week after a season-opening sweep of UW-Superior, Feb. 27...
2020:
Korin Hall was named the WIAC position player of the week after the Blue Devils' only games of the 2020 season.
ON DECK: After a season that has been predominately on the road, Stout is scheduled to play three home doubleheaders in the course of next week. Stout will host UW-La Crosse, Wednesday, April 28, with the first game a conference game in a make-up from earlier in the month and the second game counting as a non-conference game. Stout will host UW-Oshkosh, Friday, April 30 in a conference set of games and will close out the week with a pair of non-conference tilts against UW-Platteville, Saturday, May 1.
