Cleveland, OH — The UW-Whitewater softball team claimed the NCAA Regional title with a 7-3 win over Case Western Reserve University Saturday. The Warhawks went 3-0 at the regional hosted by CWRU to punch their ticket to Super Regionals. 

UW-Whitewater will take on St. Mary’s (MN) for the best-of-three Supers series. The location and times of Super Regional games will be announced when made official by the NCAA. 

After a three-up, three-down inning for both teams in the first, the Spartans threatened in the second. Auburn Roberson (South Elgin, Ill./St. Charles North) robbed the extension of an at bat for the leadoff with a nifty sliding catch in foul territory for the first out. CWRU drew a walk and pushed the runner into scoring position on a sacrifice bunt. The Spartans put runners on the corners with an infield single before Josie Hammen (Combined Locks, Wis./Kimberly) got out of the jam with a strikeout. 

UWW responded in the bottom half of the inning with two out offense. Roberson turned her stellar defense into clutch offense with the Warhawks’ first back knock of the game. Claire Kohnle (Tisch Mills, Wis./Kewaunee) made the pitcher work — after falling down 0-2 in the count, the senior fouled off a pitch before watching the next four balls sail by out of the zone for the walk. JJ Jakosalem (Buffalo Grove, Ill./Buffalo Grove) followed suit with a walk to load the bases. Kaitlyn Weidemann (Gurnee, Ill./Warren Township) sent a hard shot back up the middle for a single to center that plated two for the 2-0 UWW lead. 

Case Western Reserve knotted the game with back-to-back four baggers to open the fourth. A couple of singles later and the Spartans had their only lead of the game, 3-2. 

UW-Whitewater responded immediately in their half of the frame, once again scoring with two outs. Kohnle sent a rocket off the wall in center field for a double. Weidemann singled before Taylor Koehler (Wauconda, Ill./Wauconda) drew a huge pinch hit walk to load the bases. Emma Giese (Kenosha, Wis./Indian Trail) took one for the team off of her front leg for the RBI hit-by-pitch. A wild pitch had all of the Warhawks on the bases moving with Weidemann sliding into home safely to give UWW a 4-3 advantage. 

After a three-up, three-down top of the fifth, UW-Whitewater’s bats added one more in the bottom of the inning. Roberson was hit-by-pitch and Kohnle drew another walk. Roberson came around to score on Weidemann’s single down the right field line. 

Giese kept the offense going in the bottom of the sixth with a one-out single to left center. Grace Wickman (Wausaukee, Wis./Peshtigo) stepped to the plate and took the first pitch for a ball. The next offering had the powerful righty swinging, connecting and the UWW bench yelling BOOM as the no-doubter left the park, easily clearing the wall in left field. The senior trotted around the bases, meeting her celebrating teammates at home plate. 

With a four-run, 7-3 lead heading into the seventh, the Warhawk defense held. As Kohnle secured the final out in left field, the Warhawks streamed out of the dugout to the mound in celebration. 

Weidemann was a perfect 3-3 at the dish with 3 RBI. Wickman added the two-run bomb to cap the scoring. 

Hammen tossed the first three innings before Hock came in to claim the win in the game with four shutout innings of work. 

Hammen, Wickman and Dani Peshia (Newark, Ill./Newark Community) were named to the All-Tournament Team while Weidemann was selected as the Most Outstanding Player of the Regional. 

The University of Wisconsin-Whitewater baseball team advances to the Regional Final in Adrian, Michigan with a walk-off win against Washington University in St. Louis on Saturday evening.

Dominik McVay (Mineral Point, Wis./Mineral Point) sent Darryl Jackson (Milwaukee, Wis./Rufus King) into score on a walk-off RBI double in the bottom of the 11th to give the Warhawks the 4-3 win in a defensive battle. Between the two teams, there were seven double plays throughout the game

Throughout the first two innings, both teams were able to get runners on, but the defense on both sides kept the runs off the board. The Warhawks finally broke through in the bottom of the third. Adam Cootway (DePere, Wis./Fox Valley Lutheran) hit a two-RBI, with Danny Hopper (Palatine, Ill./Palatine) cleaning him up with a RBI single. 

The Warhawk defense and pitching protected the 3-run lead until the 6th inning. WashU loaded up the bases, scoring a two-RBI double with one out. The Warhawks got out of the inning with a double play to maintain their advantage.

Heading into the ninth, the Warhawks were still up 3-2 with Logan Eisenbarth (Barrington, Ill./Barrington) getting the call to pitch the final three outs. The Bears only needed one swing, tying the game up with a solo home run in the top of the 9th. 

The game headed into extra-innings, with both teams not allowing a single base-runner for 12 straight outs. 

In the bottom of the 11th, Darryl Jackson (Milwaukee, Wis./Rufus King) drew a five-pitch walk to become the first base runner. That was all the Warhawks needed, with Dominik McVay (Mineral Point, Wis./Mineral Point) sending a double over the right fielder’s head that allowed Jackson to score the winning run.

Eisenbarth earned his second win in as many days, improving to 7-0 on the season. Eisenbarth allowed the tying run but then pitched 2.2 innings of hit-less baseball in extra innings. 

The Warhawks will advance to the regional final, taking on the winner in the Saturday night-cap of Adrian and WashU. First pitch is scheduled for 10 AM (CDT) in Adrian. The game will be streamed on ncaa.com.

Cleveland, OH — The UW-Whitewater softball team topped host Case Western Reserve 7-6 in an eight inning thriller Friday to advance to the Regional Championship game. The Warhawks’ opponent for the title game will be determined upon completion of Friday’s slate of games.  [The Warhawks will be playing Case Western Reserve again on Saturday at 10 a.m. They will play Case again at 12:30 p.m. “if necessary,” which appears to be if the Warhawks lose the 10 a.m. game.] It should be possible to watch the game(s) here.

UWW showcased grit and determination in the complete team win over the Spartans. However, the start to the game was one no fans of either team saw coming. After a three-up, three-down top of the first for the Warhawks (UWW was the home team via coin flip), the bottom of the frame showcased UW-Whitewater’s discipline at the plate against a rise ball pitcher. Five Warhawks reached on free passes – four by walk and one via hit-by-pitch. Meanwhile, Dani Peshia (Newark, Ill./Newark Community) singled to center field for the lone hit of the inning. All together three Warhawks touched home in the first for the 3-0 lead and before the inning was complete, UWW had chased the Spartans’ ace from the circle. 

Case Western Reserve struck back, taking advantage of the tight zone and scoring two runs with the help of four walks in the top of the second to narrow the gap to 3-2. After 1.5 innings, nine free passes had been issued and the teams had just one hit combined while five runs had been tallied. 

The Spartans captured their first, and only lead of the game, in the top of the third. Two singles, an error, a walk and a stolen base set up and plated the pair of runs for CWRU. The lead was short-lived as the Warhawks had an immediate response. 

In the bottom of the third, Grace Wickman (Wausaukee, Wis./Peshtigo) led off with a walk. With two outs, Claire Kohnle (Tisch Mills, Wis./Kewaunee) watched four straight balls and headed down to first and Wickman advanced into scoring position. Taylor Koehler (Wauconda, Ill./Wauconda) was tapped for the pinch hit. The powerful lefty sent a blast to the wall in right center for a two-RBI double. Kaitlyn Weidemann (Gurnee, Ill./Warren Township) followed with a hit that fell in the Bermuda Triangle just inside the foul line in shallow right field. The base knock allowed Koehler to book it around third and slide safely into home for the 6-4 UWW lead. 

The Spartans threatened in the top of the next inning with a speedy runner on when Kohnle made arguably the greatest catch of the season for UWW. A deep fly ball had the left fielder sprinting back toward the warning track. On the run, Kohnle reached up for an over-the-shoulder catch and as the ball hit her glove, she hit the wall. The ball was jarred loose but Kohnle used her free hand to reign it in before hitting the ground. Kohnle held up the ball as the umpires signaled for a catch to end the inning. 

The 6-4 advantage for UW-Whitewater held until the top of the seventh. The Spartans were down to their last out when a double plated two and then the CWRU defense held to send the game into extras. 

Case Western’s leadoff reached on a miscue and moved to second on a sacrifice bunt, but Josie Hammen (Combined Locks, Wis./Kimberly) got out of the jam with a fly out and a pop out to bring up the Warhawk bats. 

Emma Giese (Kenosha, Wis./Indian Trail) battled for a walk on a full count to open the bottom of the eighth and the speedy Belle Lapacek (Downers Grove, Ill./South) took over on the basepaths. Wickman laid down a perfectly placed bunt for the sacrifice to move Lapacek into scoring position. Peshia tagged a rocket to center field that caromed off the jumping centerfielder’s glove. Lapacek had to wait to make sure the ball was down and was held up at third as Peshia legged out the double. Auburn Roberson (South Elgin, Ill./St. Charles North) connected on the very next pitch with a liner to center for the walkoff single. 

All in all, the teams combined for 14 hits and 17 walks. Peshia was 3-5 at the dish while Roberson tallied two RBI. 

Rhiann Dick (Palatine, Ill./Palatine) and Brooke Hock (Green Bay, Wis./Preble) combined for the first six innings of work in the circle. Hammen came in for the final two innings to register the win and move to 17-2 on the day.