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Box Score 2 TUCSON, Ariz. - Kendra Thomas (Jenison, Mich./Jenison) tossed a two-hit shutout against Crown (Minn.), and Morgan O'Hanlon (Lowell, Ind./Lowell) scored the game-winning run in the eighth inning against Valley City State (N.D.) as the Wisconsin Lutheran College softball team picked up a pair of wins Thursday at Lincoln Park. The Warriors (4-4) earned a 17-0 run-rule victory over the Storm (1-1) in five innings before pulling out a 4-3 extra-inning win against the Vikings (3-7).
WLC jumped out to a 9-0 lead in the first inning of its first game of the day. Jinny Curtis (Muskego, Wis./Wisconsin Lutheran) knocked a two-run single to right-center to open the scoring. Jenny Rechlicz (West Allis, Wis./Nathan Hale) brought home another run with a sacrifice bunt and Brittney Blazich (Bristol, Wis./Westosha Central) stole home as part of a double-steal. Five errors and a passed ball helped bring home the other five Warriors' runs in the frame.
The Warriors added on in the third, as Tara Degl'Innocenti (Lisle, Ill./Naperville North) ripped an RBI single to left and Emily Sievert (Mukwonago, Wis./Mukwonago) followed with a two-run triple to deep center. Rechlicz tacked on a sacrifice fly to push the lead to 13-0.
In the fourth, Michelle Ritchie (Shiocton, Wis./Shiocton) hit a run-scoring double, Alicia Barbian (Waterford, Wis./Waterford) laced a two-run triple, and Rechlicz brought home another run with a single to make it 17-0.
Thomas retired the first 10 batters she faced and allowed just two hits with no walks and six strikeouts in five innings for the shutout victory. Rechlicz drove in three runs in the game and Barbian, Curtis, and Sievert tallied two hits and two RBI apiece.
Jena Willis (1-1) surrendered 13 runs, six earned, in three innings to take the loss.
The Warriors grabbed the lead in the second inning of game two of the day against Valley City State. Degl'Innocenti scored on a wild pitch and Mindy Schalinske's (Burlington, Wis./Shoreland Lutheran) sacrifice bunt scored Barbian to stake WLC to a 2-0 lead.
O'Hanlon's two-out RBI double in the fifth made it 3-0 before the Vikings tied it in the sixth. Brittany Lehner hit a lead-off homer for Valley City State, and Liz Hall-Sewell and Shayna Taffinder each delivered run-scoring singles to tie the game at three.
The Vikings threatened to take the lead in the top of the eighth, but a great defensive play helped the Warriors escape the inning unscathed. With runners at second and third and one out, Mackenzie Hamre grounded to shortstop Kaitlyn Robison (Andalusia, Ill./Rockridge), who threw to first for one out before Blazich threw home to Barbian, who tagged out Taylor Schroeder for an inning-ending double play.
O'Hanlon started the bottom of the eighth on second base due to the international tiebreaker. Rechlicz laid down a sacrifice bunt, but the throw to first by third baseman Rochelle Schulze was wild, allowing O'Hanlon to score the winning run.
Barbian was 2-for-2 in the game and Thomas (4-2) held the Vikings to three runs in eight innings while striking out two for her second victory of the day.
Savannah McMillin was 2-for-4 for Valley City State. All four runs given up by Ashley Metcalf (0-2) were unearned, and she limited WLC to five hits in the loss.
Wisconsin Lutheran will play its final two games in Tucson Friday, when it meets Crown (1-1) at 11 a.m. CT and Alfred (N.Y.) (5-1) at 3:30 p.m. CT.
