MADISON, Wis. – The sun made a brief cameo and the weather heated up, but the Edgewood College softball team's bats cooled off in a 2-0 win and 6-1 loss to Alverno on Wednesday afternoon. Freshman Laurissa Belott saw her incredible hit streak come to an end, but tied the decade-old school record held by Jennifer Stephens with a hit in her 19th straight game. Shannon Whitmus tossed her first complete-game shutout in game one to offset an offense that mustered up nine hits on the day.
Belott led off game one with a single up the middle to extend her hit streak to 19 games and tie the school record. It was her only hit of the game and one of 27 singles (out of 31 total hits) during the incredible run to begin her career. She has led the NACC in batting average for most of the season and is still among the league leaders with a .456 mark.
She finished with one of the Eagles (11-9, 3-3 NACC) four hits and scored on Jordan Anderson's RBI groundout in the first inning. Grace Delleman immediately followed Anderson with an RBI triple to conclude the game's scoring.
Hanna Fisher, accustomed to batting near the bottom of the order, posted a team-high two hits in her first time batting out of the number two spot. The freshman left fielder has quietly put together a 10-game hit streak of her own and is now hitting .356 on the year.
Shannon Whitmus (6-4) tossed her first complete-game shutout of the year and gave up just three hits in the Eagles third straight win. At one point she retired eight straight batters and forced the Alverno offense to strand one runner in five of the seven frames.
Alverno's Olivia Schneider (6-4), who tossed nearly 200 pitches in all 14 innings for Alverno, held the Eagles to four hits and two earned runs while striking out five.
Right fielder Maddie Minik raked an RBI double in the second inning for the Eagles only score as the offense was held to five hits in a 6-1 game two loss. She had two of the Eagles five hits.
Starting pitcher Maddy Coppens (3-1) surrendered just two earned runs and gave up seven hits over four innings in the first loss of her career. She was previously 3-0 over her first 30 innings on a collegiate mound.
The Eagle offense, who was held to five or fewer hits for only the sixth time this season, were held in check when it mattered most. Trailing 3-1 heading into the bottom of the fifth, the Eagles totaled just two singles over the final three frames in their first home loss of the year.
A 3-run seventh-inning by the Inferno bats put a damper on the Eagle comeback and was aided by two unearned runs off a pair of Eagle errors.
Belott finished 0-for-3 to see her hit streak end. Her best opportunity came in her first at-bat to lead off the game. She laced a hard hit ball to right field that was just in range of the outstretched glove of Alverno's Kaitlynn Johnson.
Schneider had another solid outing in her second straight complete game. She allowed one earned run with five strikeouts in the win. She complemented an Inferno offense that racked up 11 hits and drew six walks.
The Eagles head south for their most challenging road trip of the year. Weather permitting, they face Benedictine this Saturday, April 14 at noon and Aurora on Sunday, April 15 at noon.
