University of St. Thomas Athletics
UW-Eau Claire
Softball falls 5-4 to Blugolds at NCAA regional
5/10/2008 12:00:00 AM | Softball
The No. 3-ranked St. Thomas softball team had its 27-game winning streak halted Saturday as it lost a 5-4 decision in eight innings to host UW-Eau Claire in the winners' bracket at the NCAA regional tournament in Eau Claire.
The Tommies will need to win three losers' bracket games to win the regional -- two on Sunday and one on Monday. They play Sunday vs. UW-Oshkosh at noon, and that winner faces Eau Claire at 2 p.m. UW-Oshkosh eliminated Illinois Wesleyan 1-0 and sidelined Aurora (Ill.) 2-1.
The 25th-ranked Blugolds avenged two one-run losses to UST from March. Eau Claire scored the go-ahead run in the top of the eighth on an error, a walk, a sacrifice bunt, and a sacrifice fly. UST got a two-out single in the bottom of the eighth, but a fly out ended the game.
The Tommies (42-4) had taken a 4-3 lead in the bottom of the fifth on Fiona Lodge's pinch-hit RBI single and Alison Wright's two-run single. But the Blugolds tied the score in the top of the fifth on Casey Leisgang's 37th career home run.
Bye (21-1) pitched the final 2 2-3 innings and took her first loss of the season and just her ninth of her career. She broke the MIAC career strikeout record and now has 798.
Both teams had nine hits but winning pitcher Jenny Ross didn't walk a batter. Eau Claire left 10 runners on in the first seven innings.
Click here to access box score:
http://www.uwec.edu/athletics/soft/0708/stats/ncaa-11.htm
