MADISON, Wis. – With two outs and a 0-2 count against her, freshman Amanda Meister delivered the game winner via a walkoff RBI double in 6-5 game two win to lead the Edgewood College softball team past Dominican and earn the split on Senior Day. Senior Shannon Whitmus won game two and helped the Eagles bounce back from a 6-2, eight-inning loss in game one.
Whitmus and fellow senior Megan Hauge, who were both honored with their parents after the conclusion of both games, each contributed in their penultimate home games in the black and red (and grey).
Hauge had the best hitting day of her career, going 3-for-3 in game one and forcing extra innings with the game-tying RBI single in the bottom of the seventh. Whitmus took the loss after pitching all eight innings of game one, but recovered with her seventh win of the year in game two.
The opportunistic Eagles (12-14, 4-8 NACC) took advantage of three Dominican errors in a game-altering fifth inning and Meister's game winner to pull out the 6-5 game two win. It also stopped a six-game slide and gave the Eagles momentum heading into crowded final week of the regular season.
Down by three runs, Callie Ziegler led off by reaching on a fielding error. Two batters later, Hanna Fisher reached on an error by the shortstop that allowed Ziegler to score.
Meister launched a long fly ball to center that was caught, but an errant throw into the infield scored Laurissa Belott. Grace Delleman cleaned things up with the game-tying RBI single and set up the dramatic ending.
Ziegler led off the seventh with a leadoff infield single, made it to second on Belott's sac bunt, and touched home on Meister's game winner to the right side.
Meister, who leads the team in batting average (.432), on-base percentage (.477), and slugging percentage (.519), is on a roll after hitting her first career game winner. She has hit safely in 12 of her last 13 games and had five hits today.
The do-it-all freshman started game two on the mound and allowed four hits and three runs over four innings and provided solid defensive play at shortstop over the latter half of the game.
Hauge's RBI single tied it up in the seventh, but Dominican (16-15, 10-5 NACC) responded with four runs in the eighth as the Eagles fell in game one, 6-2, to start the day.
The Stars, winners of eight straight after the opener, scored two runs (one unearned) in the top of the fifth to take the 2-1 lead. An Eagle throwing error, one of five on the day, allowed Dominican to score the crucial unearned run and forced Hauge's game-tying heroics late.
All tied up at two in the eighth and with nobody out, the Stars notched back-to-back, bases loaded hits to push their lead to 5-2. A squeeze bunt completed the scoring and sealed the win.
The Eagles, a formidable team when playing clean defensively, dropped to 2-10 when committing multiple errors and are 10-4 when committing one error or less.
Meister and Hauge both added three hits and one RBI apiece. Hauge, a senior out of Columbus, Wis., hit her first double of the season in the third inning that helped lead to the Eagles first run.
Whitmus (7-7) threw a season-high 138 pitches and gave up six runs (five earned) and 10 hits while striking out four over eight innings.
Dominican starting pitcher Sydney Kuderna (6-5) allowed two runs over eight innings and finished 4-for-5 at the plate with two RBIs.
The Eagles continue their crowded stretch of games with a trip to Wisconsin Lutheran tomorrow (Monday) at 3:00 p.m. It will be their third doubleheader in as many days and is part of a stretch of seven doubleheaders in an eight-day span.
