WHITEWATER, Wis.- Nationally ranked UW-Oshkosh softball earned a pair of 5-2 victories to sweep UW-Whitewater and move into a tie atop the WIAC standings Tuesday (April 21) in Whitewater.
 
Oshkosh (21-5-1, 4-1 WIAC), ranked 16th in the NCAA Division III by the National Fastpitch Coaches Association, extended its conference record of consecutive 20-win full seasons to 22.
 
The Titans, who swept the Warhawks in Whitewater for the first time since 2022, are tied for first in the league standings with UW-Platteville (18-10, 4-1 WIAC). Whitewater (18-10, 3-3 WIAC) fell to fourth in the conference standings.
 
Oshkosh narrowly outhit Whitewater, 17-16, on the day and trailed for just two innings the entire doubleheader. All 16 Whitewater hits were singles.
 
Mary Kate Quaid (Aurora, Ill./Oswego East), who went 3-for-8 at the plate for Oshkosh, drove in all five runs during the opener, including a go-ahead three-run homer with two outs in the top of the fifth inning.
 
Olivia Baugnet (De Pere/De Pere) led the Titans with four hits Tuesday while Emma Bohn (Rosendale/Laconia) and Amanda Martineck (Frankfort, Ill./Lincoln-Way East) added three hits apiece. Baugnet upped her team-best batting average to .431.
 
Kiran Sanford (Two Rivers/Mishicot) picked up a win during the opener and a save in the nightcap, going nine combined innings without allowing an earned run to lower her season ERA to 1.22.
 
In the first game of the day, Whitewater scored a pair of unearned runs to claim a 2-0 lead in the home half of the second inning. Oshkosh knotted the score at 2 following a two-run single by Quaid during the top of the fourth frame. Quaid then launched a three-run homer an inning later to provide the difference.
 
Oshkosh's fourth-inning comeback began with Sarah Hammerton (Appleton/Appleton West) reaching via an error. Olivia Ullman (Denmark/Denmark) crushed a double to left-center field to put two Titans in scoring position for Quaid, who lined a sharp single to center field that brought home Hammerton and Ullman.
 
Baugnet sparked the Titans' fifth-inning rally with an infield single. Hammerton drew a one-out walk and, after a groundout put two runners in scoring position for Quaid once again, Quaid drove a 2-1 pitch well beyond the fence in left-center field for a 5-2 Oshkosh advantage.
 
Sanford worked around a one-out single during the bottom of the fifth inning, two baserunners in the sixth frame and a bases-loaded jam during the seventh to preserve the win.
 
Sanford (12-1) went the distance, scattering six hits and yielding two unearned runs. She walked three and struck out 10, marking her third double-digit strikeout performance of the year.
 
The conference leader in victories, Sanford also paces the WIAC in WHIP (0.88), strikeouts (110), shutouts (four) and strikeout-to-walk ratio (9.17) after entering Tuesday ranked third nationally at 11.0.
 
Quaid's home run was her team-leading fourth of the season while her five RBI marked a career high and ties Kelly Selzer (Lake Zurich, Ill./Lake Zurich) for the most by a Titan this year.
 
Baugnet and Martineck both went 2-for-3 and Baugnet added a stolen base.
 
Bella Eggert accounted for two of Whitewater's six hits.
 
Warhawk starting pitcher Josie Hammen suffered the loss, ceding five runs (four earned) on seven hits and one walk with five strikeouts across five innings of work. The four earned runs allowed matched a season high for Hammen, who sported a 0.00 WIAC ERA after firing shutouts during her first two league starts.
 
In the second contest, Oshkosh owned a 5-0 lead in the fifth inning before Whitewater pulled within 5-2 and brought the potential go-ahead run to the plate in the fifth frame and the tying run to the plate in the sixth.
 
Whitewater, which stranded 12 baserunners, outhit the Titans, 10-9. Oshkosh turned inning-ending double plays in the fifth and sixth innings.
 
Oshkosh began building its 5-0 cushion with a Morgan Miller (Schaumburg, Ill./Schaumburg) RBI single that plated Martineck in the second inning and Miller's sacrifice fly to bring home Bohn in the fourth frame.
 
The Titans then tacked on three more runs in the top of the fifth inning after two outs and the bases empty. Ullman sparked the unlikely outburst with an infield single. Quaid and Martineck followed with singles of their own as Ullman scored what proved to be the game winning run on Martineck's hit through the left side of the infield. Pinch runner Kaelin Adair (Mishicot/Mishicot) cross the plate on a wild pitch for a 4-0 lead, and Bohn capped the barrage with a single to left-center field to score Martineck.
 
The Warhawks pulled within 5-2 in the bottom of the fifth inning, but Titan relief pitcher Brianna Bougie (Oshkosh/Oshkosh West) limited the damage by inducing an inning-ending double play from Bohn at shortstop to Haylie Wittman (Kaukauna/Kaukauna) at second base to Martineck at first.
 
Whitewater had two runners aboard with one out in the sixth frame, but Martineck snagged a line drive off the bat of Rachel Radish and tagged Eggert before she retreated to first base, thwarting the threat.
 
Sanford pitched around a leadoff single in the last of the seventh inning to end the contest. Sanford notched her first career save after holding the Warhawks scoreless on two hits with one strikeout across the final two innings.
 
Titans starting pitcher Grace Nardi (Marquette, Mich./Negaunee) (6-1) picked up the win, holding the Warhawks to two runs on five hits and one walk with four strikeouts in four innings.
 
Baugnet and Bohn both had two hits to lead Oshkosh.
 
Eggert went 3-for-4 and scored a run from atop the Whitewater lineup.
 
Warhawk starting pitcher Kaitlyn Marsh (2-2) was saddled with the loss, surrendering five runs (four earned) on seven hits in 4.2 innings. She struck out one without issuing a walk.
 
Tuesday's doubleheader was the first of eight games in six days for the Titans. Oshkosh travels to Marian University (14-12) for a pair of games beginning at 3 p.m. Wednesday (April 22).