The No. 20 UW Oshkosh softball team went 5-1 last week, moving their record to 27-1.
Even though the Titans undefeated streak ended, they still took five of the six games that the team played in last week. Head Coach Scott Beyer was happy with how the team played in the long week.
“Going 5-1 last week, with four games on the road, was tough,” Beyer said. “But we played consistently and I was very pleased with our result.”
UWO started the week on Tuesday with the rescheduled doubleheader at the Milwaukee School of Engineering from April 2. The Titans won game one 2-0 behind four strong innings from Abby Freismuth, Freismuth allowed only two hits and struck out three.
Despite not being able to take advantage with runners in scoring position in the first and third innings, the Titans were able to break open the scoring in the fourth as Morgan Rau sent her sister Sydney Rau home with an RBI double.
Morgan Miller extended the Titans’ lead in the sixth with a homer to make it 2-0 and that’s all UWO needed to win game one. The Titans won game two 4-0 behind two home runs from Sophie Wery, along with nine strikeouts on the mound and a four-hit day at the plate from Sydney Nemetz.
In their doubleheader the next day, UWO took on the No. 23 UW-Whitewater Warhawks in a nationally ranked battle. The Titans were able to come out with a split. UWO dominated game one with a 13-2 win in five innings.
It was a complete game for the Titans as not only did Nemetz pitch all five innings, but all nine batters recorded a hit for UWO. The Titans broke open the game with a five-run first inning to get a 5-1 lead.
The next four innings were scoreless until the Titans put together an eight-run fifth inning to extend the lead to 13-1. Whitewater scored on a sacrifice fly in the fifth for their final run before Nemetz got the final out. In game two, the Warhawks jumped out to a 2-1 lead in the second inning. Then UWO responded with a four-run fifth inning thanks to an RBI double from Hannah Ritter and a two-run homer from Wery to get the lead back to 5-2 for the Titans.
Unfortunately for UWO, the Warhawks didn’t go down without a fight. UWW scored two runs in the sixth on an RBI double and a fielder’s choice to make it 5-4 UWO. Then in the seventh, Abby Garceau was stranded on second that potential run proved costly for UWO with two outs and runners on first and second.
The Warhawks hit the game winning RBI double to give UWO their first loss of the season. Although the finish to game two was tough, Beyer acknowledged that he was encouraged by how UWO played against UWW.
“We played good enough to win both games. It is tough to know we played well enough to win, but did not,” Beyer said. “It is also encouraging to know you could’ve swept a great team and a big rival of ours. We left there knowing we played well and confident that we can play with anyone.”
After a couple days of rest, the Titans returned to action on Saturday with a doubleheader against the UW-River Falls Falcons. UWO was able to recover from the tough loss in game two against UWW, as the Titans swept the Falcons in both games.
The Titans won game one behind the 10th complete game from Nemetz as she struck out 13 while only allowing two hits and a walk in the win. The Titans offense gave her plenty of run support to work with.
UWO opened up the scoring with an RBI single from Morgan Rau in the second, the Titans were able to tally across another run in the second to make it 2-0. In the third, the Titans exploded for five runs and were able to make it 7-0. The big lead allowed Morgan Rau to hit the walkoff single in the sixth and allow the Titans to get a six inning win.
In game two, the Falcons opened up the scoring with an RBI single in the second. Fortunately, that would be the only lead UWRF would have in the game as UWO responded in the bottom half of the inning after Morgan Rau tied it with a solo home run to left field and Cali Divito hit the go ahead RBI groundout to make it 2-1. Two innings later the Titans were able to blow it open as Sydney Rau hit an RBI triple to score Garceau and Miller. Then Sydney Rau was able to cross home after an RBI single from Ritter to make it 5-1.
UWO was able to close it out with a 5-1 win after Brianna Bougie pitched the final three innings allowing only one hit as she earned her seventh save of the season. Beyer loved how the team responded in the River Falls doubleheader after the tough loss to UWW.
“They didn’t lose any confidence from that loss, and they responded the way a good team should: by staying consistent and showing up for each other on Saturday,” Beyer said.
The Titans continued the homestand this week with a doubleheader against UW-Stevens Point on April 24. Visit the UWO athletics website for results.
UWO will host a doubleheader against UW-Stout on April 27. The two games will start at 2 p.m. and 4 p.m.
