FRANKLIN, Wis. (WLCSports.com) – Wisconsin Lutheran College suffered its second consecutive Northern Athletics Collegiate Conference sweep on Monday, falling to Lakeland 19-4 in five innings and 9-8 at The Rock Sports Complex.
GAME 1
The Muskies struck for four first-inning runs on five hits to take an early lead over the Warriors. Senior
Gwen Malecke (Gilberts, Ill.) drove in freshman
Kylie Gaston (Albertville, Minn.) with a RBI single to cap a stretch of three straight batters reaching base in the bottom of the opening inning.
WLC answered LU's three second-inning runs behind Gaston's bat, driving in two on a sharply hit ball to right field that was misplayed, allowing both senior
Allison Powers (Sun Prairie, Wis.) and sophomore
Ally Stancel (Yorkville, Ill.) to cross the plate.
Lakeland, which scored in every inning, plated two runs in both the third and fourth and tacked on eight with just three hits in the fifth.
Wisconsin Lutheran executed a double steal in the third for its final run of the game, as freshman
Maritza Martinez (Kenosha, Wis.) and senior
Olivia Krieser (Stoughton, Wis.) swiped home and second, respectively.
Gaston recorded two of the Warriors' five hits in the game, including a RBI and a run scored. Malecke,
Maritza Martinez, and Krieser added one hit apiece.
Sydney Meyer went 3-for-4 with two RBI and two runs scored for the Muskies. Natalie Ziebell allowed three earned runs in 4.2 innings to pickup the win.
GAME 2
WLC opened strong with a pair of runs in the second, thanks to back-to-back extra-base hits from Malecke and Krieser. Wisconsin Lutheran followed that up with a four-run third inning to surge ahead 6–1, highlighted by RBI from
Maritza Martinez, sophomore
Julianna Alloy (Harrison Township, Mich.), and Malecke.
The Warriors added another run in the fourth via a sacrifice fly from sophomore Summer Krull (New London, Wis.).
LU, however, found momentum in the fifth, erupting for five runs to trim WLC's lead to 7-6. Back-to-back run-scoring triples and a RBI single brought Lakeland within one.
Wisconsin Lutheran capitalized on a Muskies error in the sixth after loading the bases to add to its lead at 8-6. In the top of the seventh, LU responded with three runs—including a two-RBI triple and a couple of costly Warriors' fielding errors—to snatch the lead back for good.
Down one in the bottom of the seventh, WLC got the tying run to third after a leadoff double from freshman
Mia Alejo (Sacramento, Calif.), but a sharply hit liner turned into a game-ending double play to seal Wisconsin Lutheran's narrow loss.
Malecke and sophomore
Madison Heller (South Milwaukee, Wis.) each had three hits for the Warriors, with Malecke and Alloy scoring twice each. Krieser drove in a pair of runs.
Peyton Harlow went 3-for-4 with three RBI and two runs for Lakeland (16-12, 10-4 NACC). Melanie Watters picked up the win after not allowing an earned run in 3.1 relief innings, with Ziebell earning the save.
WLC (9-20, 4-12 NACC) hosts Wheaton (IL) (14-18) tomorrow for an 11:30 a.m. non-conference doubleheader at The Rock Sports Complex in Franklin. Live coverage links can be found at WLCSports.com.
