OSHKOSH, Wis.- Nationally ranked UW-Oshkosh softball began the season with two nonconference home victories in decidedly different fashions Saturday (Feb. 28) in the UW-Oshkosh Rec Plex Dome.
 
Oshkosh (2-0), ranked 17th in the NCAA Division III by the National Fastpitch Coaches Association, blanked College of St. Scholastica (Minn.), 12-0, in five innings, before hanging on for a 3-2 triumph over Loras College (Iowa).
 
The Titans hit a robust .420 on the day, collecting 21 hits, including three triples. The Titans' defense was errorfree across the 12 innings in support of a trio of pitchers who combined to strike out 21 and walk just four.
 
During the season opener, Oshkosh scored once in the top of the first inning and put the game away with an eight-run fourth frame and a three-run fifth.
 
Grace Nardi (Marquette, Mich./Negaunee) (1-0) earned the win in the pitcher's circle after taking a no-hitter into the fourth inning. Nardi yielded just a two-out single in the fourth frame and two walks while striking out seven.
 
Brianna Bougie (Oshkosh/Oshkosh West) tossed a perfect fifth inning in relief of Nardi to preserve the shutout for a program that ranked third in the division a year ago with 19 shutouts.
 
Eight different Titans drove in runs, including Emma Bohn (Rosendale/Laconia), Brianne Lopez (Volo, Ill./Grant Community) and Amanda Martineck (Frankfort, Ill./Lincoln-Way East) with a team-leading two runs batted in each.
 
Olivia Ullman (Denmark/Denmark) went 3-for-3 with three runs scored, an RBI, a walk and a stolen base atop the Titans lineup, which also received two hits each from Lopez, Martineck and Mary Kate Quaid (Aurora, Ill./Oswego East).
 
Martineck got Oshkosh on the board with a two-out single that plated Ullman in the top of the first frame.
 
The Titans' eight-run outburst in the fourth inning featured a Bohn two-run triple, RBI singles by Lopez, Quaid, Ullman and Morgan Miller (Schaumburg, Ill./Schaumburg), and another RBI from Martineck.
 
Oshkosh capped the scoring during the fifth frame with a Lopez RBI triple, a Kendra Baumeister (Burlington/Burlington) pinch-hit RBI single and a Maddie Crick (Cary, Ill./Cary-Grove) pinch-hit RBI triple.
 
Starting pitcher Aleah Shogren suffered the loss in St. Scholastica's season opener, ceding six runs on seven hits and one walk with three strikeouts in 3.1 innings.
 
Victoria Nelson's sharp single to left field in the fourth inning accounted for the lone Saints hit.
 
In Saturday's second contest, Oshkosh scored three unearned runs during the third inning and cruised along until staving off a late Loras comeback bid that included singles tallied in the sixth and seventh innings.
 
The Duhawks had the tying run on third base and the go-ahead run at first with one out in the top of the seventh inning, but Bougie notched the save by getting a strikeout and a lineout to preserve the win.
 
Miller led off Oshkosh's fateful bottom of the third inning with a double and later scampered home from third base thanks to a throwing error to the plate by the Duhawks third baseman for a 1-0 lead. Quaid then plated Olivia Baugnet (De Pere/De Pere) on a sacrifice fly ahead of Martineck's two-out single that scored Ullman from third with what proved to be the winning run.
 
Kiran Sanford (Two Rivers/Mishicot) (1-0) dominated Loras in her collegiate pitching debut, going 4.2 scoreless innings before giving way to Bougie. Sanford allowed a pair of singles and a walk while striking out nine.
 
Loras (2-1) broke up Oshkosh's bid for another shutout when Bailey Welu drew a bases-loaded walk with two outs in the sixth inning. However, Bougie stranded three baserunners with a strikeout to escape the jam.
 
The Duhawks had a pair of runners in scoring position in the top of the seventh inning following a hit-by-pitch, single and sacrifice bunt. Loras starting pitcher Kaili Henning proceeded to chop an infield single to third base to pull the Duhawks within a run at 3-2, but Bougie set down Loras cleanup hitter Dana Skorich on strikes and got Kiya Steger to line out to Martineck at first base and end the ballgame with the tying run 60 feet from home.
 
Bougie, the reigning WIAC Pitcher of the Year, recorded her first save of the season and program record-extending 16th of her career despite giving up a pair of runs on five hits in 2.1 innings. She walked one and struck out four.
 
Haylie Wittman (Kaukauna/Kaukauna) accounted for two of Oshkosh's six hits.
 
Henning and Katherine Svigelj both had two of Loras' seven hits, which were all singles.

Henning (0-1) was charged with the complete-game loss, allowing three runs – none earned – with one walk and two strikeouts in six innings.
 
Oshkosh hosts intrastate nonconference foes UW-Superior at 10 a.m. and Wisconsin Lutheran College at noon Sunday (March 1) in the UW-Oshkosh Rec Plex Dome.