On a chilly Saturday afternoon, the UW-Whitewater softball team’s offense provided the warmth in a sweep of a doubleheader against UW-River Falls April 13.

The Warhawks kept the Falcons’ offense cold in the first game with a 5-0 victory. In game two, the Warhawks offense erupted for a 12-5 victory.

The sweep of the doubleheader brings the Warhawks record to 15-7 on the season and 5-1 in conference play.

“Hitting is also one of those contagious things,” head coach Brenda Volk said. “It seems once a few bats get going then the rest follow.    Then once you start hitting well, the confidence starts to rise a little which helps.    The thing that has really helped us the most is overall we have been aggressive at the plate and swinging at good pitches.”

In the first game, the Warhawks were led by the dominant pitching of junior Bella Matthias. Matthias pitched a complete game shutout, struck out ten batters and only allowed four hits. The win brings Matthias’ pitching record to 8-1 with a 0.51 earned run average for the season.

Junior third baseman Meg Cohrs got the offense on the board with a single in the third inning that scored senior center fielder Caitlin Catino.

Senior designated player Kayla Seymour’s two-run homer in the sixth inning added some insurance runs. Seymour knocked in another runner in the seventh with a groundout finishing her game 2-for-4 with 3 RBIs.

In the second game, senior right-hander Julia Camardo took the mound for the Warhawks. Camardo picked up the victory by pitching four innings, while allowing two runs on five hits. Junior Dani Biesiada pitched 1 ⅓ innings in relief, giving up three runs [two earned] on four hits. Bella Matthias finished the game, pitching 1 ⅔ innings while only allowing two hits.

“Yes, our pitchers have been throwing consistently well all season long,” Volk said. “Even on the games we have lost, our pitchers have thrown extremely well. We just need our pitchers to stay confident no matter what things haven’t gone their way and we need them to stay healthy.”

A six-run second inning and a four-run third inning helped the Warhawks run away with the victory.

Catino went 3-for-5 with a three-run homer in the second inning. Senior shortstop Emily Rux went 4-for-4 with three RBIs and sophomore Kaleigh O’Brien went 3-for–5 on the day.   

“I think it helps tremendously when there are multiple people contributing,” Volk said. “It is nice to know that we don’t always have to rely on the same people…We have gotten some great contributions from both our starters as well as people coming in later in the game so that has been fun to watch.”

Next up, UW-W hosts UW-Stout on April 15 after their games that were originally scheduled the day before were cancelled due to the snow.