UW Oshkosh softball spent spring break in Florida and went 5-1 over the week against schools across the nation.

The week began against Williams College, then Grinnell College. Both games resulted in wins, and throughout the contests a strong Oshkosh lead was maintained with a singular scoring round by the opposition. The Williams and Grinnell games ended in respective scores of 6-3 and 8-5.

Oshkosh senior Grace Stevens said how proud she was of her teammates for those games. “[We] created a good field culture because it was our first time playing out of the [Rec Plex Dome],” she said.
Their play was smart and strong, as they endured the Florida spring weather and adjusted their performance to best both teams.

The strong start on Monday was followed by two more wins on Tuesday against Trinity College and Colby College. The Trinity College contest was originally sluggish, with both teams scoring a single run in the third inning; however, in the sixth inning, UWO pulled ahead by three. The game ended in a score of 4-2. Colby College had a strong first inning, but Oshkosh later pulled ahead by four, resulting in a 5-1 score.

These games were followed by two days off, one scheduled and the other due to rain cancellations.

Friday was a mixed batch, with UWO having a strong win, and later being dealt their only loss of the week. Bowdoin College was a tit for tat exchange of runs which UWO steadily overcame until the eventual 9-7 win.

After beating Bowdin, UWO fell to Tufts University, preventing a weekend sweep. Tufts had scored a run in all but two of their innings resulting in a near shut out of 8-1.
Pitcher Maddie Fink said the loss is because of the team being worn down.

“When you play this many games there’s fatigue, and at the end of the week you are tired, even if you love it,” she said.

Fink volunteered to pitch that game after pitching that team last year, saying how good of a competition they are.

In a reflection of the game, she acknowledged that seven of the eight runs given up were her pitches.

“It sucked to lose, but there’s no reason to dwell. We need to focus on making ourselves better through positives opposed to negatives,” she said.

Stevens said that the week was a positive one for the team.

“We’re really starting to build a culture of who we want to be. We’re young and hungry, and we’re ready to get to work,” she said.