DE PERE - St. Norbert College faced longtime non-conference foe UW-Eau Claire and split a doubleheader at Miron Construction Field at Mel Nicks Sports Complex.
The Green Knights opened with a hard-fought 3-2 win before dropping the nightcap 14-4.
Eau Claire jumped out to a 2-0 lead with a pair of runs in the top of the third inning, but that is all the scoring the visitor would muster the rest of the way. The Green Knights got a run back in the bottom of the third, when
Meredith Manke and
Zoe Zasada hit consecutive one-out singles. After a groundout moved the runners up a base, Manke scored on a wild pitch.
St. Norbert broke through again in the fifth inning.
Morgan Hansel opened the inning with a single and pinch-runner
Andrianna Volz was sacrificed to second. Manke followed with a single to put runners on the corners. Zasada had an infield single to load the bases.
Allison Ardito was then hit by a pitch to force in a run and tie it at 2-2.
Addison Race then legged out an infield single on a bang-bang play at first base to push the Green Knights ahead by a run.
Race then retired Eau Claire in order in the sixth and allowed one baserunner in the seventh on an error to lock down the win. Race allowed just five hits with one walk and five strikeouts to get the win.
Manke was 2-for-3 with two runs scored, while Zasada was 2-for-3.
In the nightcap, Eau Claire broke open a 5-4 game with nine runs in the top of the sixth inning.
St. Norbert got a run in the first inning on an
Ava Engwall single to bring home
Nicole Condon. Eau Claire got two runs in the second inning but the Green Knights tied it at 2-2 when
Kathryn Bergin scored on a two-out error. The Blugolds scored twice more in the top of the third inning and added a run in the fourth inning to take a 5-2 lead.
St. Norbert got two runs in the fifth when
Karleigh Linssen's double brought around
Lilly Haase and Bergin's RBI single plated pinch-runner
Morgan Jarvi. Eau Claire then scored nine runs on six hits in the top of the sixth to put the game away.
Christina Paleka was 2-for-2 with a double for St. Norbert, while Ardito was 2-for-3.
