Issued: May 14, 2011
Day Three of Eau Claire NCAA Softball Regional Complete
EAU CLAIRE, Wis. – Fourth-ranked Luther College (Iowa) remained the only unbeaten team in the Eau Claire Regional while UW-La Crosse, St. Scholastica (Minn.) and UW-River Falls were eliminated at Gelein Field today.
In game one, River Falls recorded a 5-4 come-from-behind win to eliminate La Crosse. The Eagles opened with a three-run first inning but the Falcons scored two in the fourth and three more in the sixth to take a 5-3 lead. La Crosse added one more run in the seventh with Lauren Schaller hitting a homer to left center. Alyssa Black led the game with three hits for River Falls while the Falcons recorded a total of 14. The Eagles had six hits. River Falls’ Shawna Middleton led the game with two RBIs. Rose Tusa earned the win, pitching a complete game and striking out four batters to improve to 21-7 on the season. Full Recaps – River Falls | La Crosse
In the second game, Ripon also had a comeback win of 3-2, ending St. Scholastica’s season. While the Saints scored one run in the second, Ripon tied the game with a run in the fourth. St. Scholastica took another lead, 2-1, in the top of the fifth but Ripon answered right back with a run in the bottom of the inning. Ripon then scored another run in the sixth to take a 3-2 lead for good. Ripon finished with six hits and one error while the Saints had four hits and two errors. In the circle, Stephanie Rieuwpassa pitched the complete game, striking out nine batters to improve to 13-5 on the year. Full Recaps – Ripon | St. Scholastica
In the third game, Luther had a big day on offense and came away with an 11-2 win in five innings over St. Thomas (Minn.). The Norse scored three runs in the first inning, four in the second and two in the third, both coming on a Lauran Snyder home run, before the Tommies could answer. Down 9-0, St. Thomas put two runs on the board in the fourth inning, but Luther answered right back in the fifth with two more runs to take the 11-2 lead. Luther finished with 10 hits while St. Thomas had seven. Luther’s Shari Huber led the game with four runs while Snyder and Jenny Brons had game-highs of three hits and three RBIs. Lexy Determan improved to 24-2 in the circle while Luther won its 24th straight game. St. Thomas snapped a 31-game winning streak. Full Recaps – Luther | St. Thomas
In the day’s final game, it came right down to the wire but Ripon ended with the 6-5 win to eliminate the Falcons. River Falls and Ripon both scored two runs in the opening inning. Ripon scored both of its runs on a Cassie Bilotto homer to left center. In the fourth inning, Ripon increased its lead by scoring four runs on three hits to go up 6-2. But the Falcons came on strong in the sixth to get to within one. Jessie Bester hit a three-run home run to left center to make the score 6-5. Unfortunately for the Falcons, it was as close as they would get. Ripon’s Stephanie Rieuwpassa led the game with three hits and two runs while River Falls’ Bester led the game with three RBIs. Rieuwpassa struck out 11 batters on the way to earning the win in the circle. She improved to 14-5 on the season. Full Recaps – Ripon | River Falls
