Omaha 4, WIU 0
Omaha 6, WIU 4
OMAHA, Neb. - The UNO softball team continued its dominance at home with a 4-0 and 6-4 doubleheader sweep against Western Illinois on Senior Day on Saturday afternoon.
The Mavericks have won seven in a row and improved to 34-5 overall and 12-1 in The Summit League. The Mavs are a perfect 8-0 at Westside Field at Westbrook this season. Western Illinois fell to 13-21 overall and 7-14 in league play.
The Mavs and Leathernecks finish out the series Sunday at Noon at Westside Field at Westbrook.
Omaha 4, Western Illinois 0
The Mavs broke a scoreless tie with three runs in the bottom of the fifth inning, and
Dana Elsasser extended her shutout streak to 29.0 innings with her fourth straight shutout.
UNO started the fifth inning with
Allie Mathewson reaching on an error and moving to second on a sacrifice bunt by
Tara Trede. Mathewson then took third on a wild pitch, and
Campbell Ditto walked.
Ditto attempted a delayed steal to second base, and Alex Pflieger's throw to second went off the glove of Sammy Marshall and into center field to allow Mathewson to score from third for a 1-0 lead.
Amber Lutmer then cranked her 11th home run of the season to left center field to make it 3-0 through five innings.
The Mavs added a run in the bottom of the sixth on an RBI single by Mathewson to score
Mara Eeman.
Elsasser (20-5) allowed just three hits and struck out eight while walking none.
Mathewson was 2-for-4 with one run and an RBI. Lutmer was 1-for-3 with two RBIs and a run. Eeman was 2-for-2 with a double and a run scored.
Omaha 6, Western Illinois 4
The Mavs exploded for four runs in the first inning and led 6-1 after three innings and held on for a 6-4 win in game two.
In the bottom of the first,
Campbell Ditto hit a two-run homer to center field, and
Amber Lutmer followed with her 12th homer of the season to nearly the same spot as Ditto's to lift UNO to a 3-0 lead. The Mavs batted around in the inning, with
Mara Eeman adding a sacrifice fly to score
Molly Negrete for a 4-0 lead.
The Leathernecks drew one run back off senior
Ashton Hughes in the top of the second, but UNO got the run back in the bottom of the second on an RBI single by Lutmer to score
Allie Mathewson.
UNO tacked on one more in the third on an RBI single by Mathewson to score Eeman, who had led off with a single.
The Leathernecks built some momentum with two runs in the fifth and one in the sixth to cut the lead to 6-4. WIU then placed runners on second and third in the bottom of the sixth with just one out, but Eeman came up with the defensive play of the game to help Hughes and the Mavs escape the inning. Megg Kelly hit a pitch into shallow foul territory, and the left fielder Eeman sprinted in toward the fence to make the catch and fired home to Ditto to throw out the speedy Sammy Marshall, who was attempting to score from third.
Hughes finished off the win on Senior Day with a perfect seventh inning. She is now 10-0 on the season and has won all nine of her starts. Hughes allowed three earned runs on five hits and four walks with three strikeouts. Kaycee Hart (4-6) took the loss after being chased in the first inning with just one out recorded. Hart allowed three earned runs on the back-to-back homers by Ditto and Lutmer.
Mathewson, Ditto and Lutmer each had two hits to lead UNO.
Lindsay Redding and
Molly Negrete, the other two Maverick seniors, each had a single.
