By: Jake Krier, UWEC Sports Information
CLERMONT, Fla. (blugolds.com) - The University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire softball team closed out their 2018 Spring Break trip to Florida with two final wins in the PFX Games. On Friday morning, they took a close 5-4 win over the Calvin Knights to start the day and finished the Games with a dominant 16-0 victory over the D'Youville Spartans.
The Knights jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the first inning before a Carlie Christensen (Sr.-Ellsworth, WI/River Falls) RBI-single cut that lead in half. Calvin added another run in the fourth, but the Blugolds answered back with three runs in the bottom of the inning to take the lead. Two of those came on a Katie Rongstad (So.-Slinger, WI) home run, her first of the year. A bases loaded walk added what proved to be a necessary insurance run for Eau Claire in the fifth. Calvin scored one in the top half of the sixth but would ultimately fall a run short.
Sarah Peka (So.-Chanhassen, MN/Minnetonka) picked up the win, while Stephanie Wilczynski (So.-Naperville, IL/Waubonsie Valley) earned the three-inning save.
The Blugolds capitalized on six Spartan errors in the concluding game of the trip as well as a massive third inning in which they scored eleven runs. Eight Eau Claire hitters contributed at least one RBI. Mikayla McEnery (Fr.-Savage, MN/Prior Lake) and Katelyn Yute (Fr.-North Prairie, WI/Kettle Moraine) each had three. Yute picked up one of those on a solo shot in the fourth.
Wilczynski started this game after picking up the save against Calvin and this time earned the win. Julia Counard (Fr.-De Pere, WI) finished the game with two innings of work for her first action in a Blugolds uniform.
The Blugolds finish the PFX Games with an 8-6 record, pushing their overall tally to 11-7.
Eau Claire now returns to the Badger State and will resume play on March 31 with a doubleheader at St. Norbert College. The double-dip is set to begin at 1:00 p.m. with the second game to follow.
Keep up on the action all season long on Blugold Game Day.
