Horizon League Softball Championship Game 11: Green Bay 8, Valparaiso 1

May 9, 2008

CHICAGO - The University of Wisconsin-Green Bay eliminated No. 2 seed Valparaiso University 8-1 in game 11 of the Horizon League Championship at Loyola Softball Park. The Phoenix will advance to face Loyola University Chicago in game 13 at 9:00 a.m.

Green Bay senior Anna Bluemel picked up her third victory of the championship and her ninth of the season. Bluemel went the distance, struck out a season-high 10 and did not walk a batter.

Valparaiso sophomore Carrie Franson suffered the loss and fell to 3-2 on the year. Franson, who started the game, worked just 1.0 inning and was tagged for six runs, facing just 10 Green Bay batters. The Crusaders threw a total of four pitchers at Green Bay lineup.

Offensively for the Phoenix, senior Jenna Woepse led the way by going 3-for-5 with a RBI. In addition, freshman Sara Junion went 1-for-3 and collected her fifth RBI of the championship.

As a team, the Green Bay offense collected eight hits. For the tournament, the Phoenix is hitting at clip of .309, which is 77 points higher than its batting average during the regular season.

Valparaiso took a 1-0 advantage in the bottom half of the first inning as junior Ashley Wolter drilled a solo home run over the leftfield wall with two outs. Wolter's solo shot was the last run the Crusaders would score.

Green Bay responded in the top half of the second inning as it took advantage of two Valparaiso errors and put seven runs on the board to take a six-run advantage. Woespe, Junion, senior Vanessa Lefan, junior Mollie Kaebisch freshman Samantha Howe, sophomore Melani Niederer, and senior Dana Brockman each collected RBI's in the frame.

The Phoenix added another run in the sixth frame to increase its lead to 8-1. Junior Missy Schleicher drove in Lefan, who scored from second.

For complete coverage of the 2008 Horizon League Softball Championship check out the tournament homepage at www.horizonleague.org.