PLYMOUTH, Wis. – The Lakeland University softball team again received largely solid pitching, this time against a nationally ranked opponent even as the Muskies fell to the University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh twice in non-conference games Thursday afternoon.

The Titans won the first game 2-0 and the second game 5-2 to sweep both games in the doubleheader. The 15th-ranked team in NCAA Division III in the NFCA Top 25 Coaches Poll, the Titans improved to 28-6 on the season while Lakeland slipped back to 16-16 overall.

Melanie Watters (Sr.-Sturgeon Bay, Wis.) and Maddie Klauer (So.-Fort Atkinson, Wis.) received rare starts in the circle, including Klauer with her first collegiate start in the second game, and both pitched well against a formidable UWO team. The Muskies struggled offensively for the second straight day, though this time against one of the toughest teams to score against in the country, a UW-Oshkosh squad that entered with the fourth-best earned run average among 396 teams in all of Division III.

Watters went the distance in the first game, pitching her first collegiate complete game. The senior allowed eight hits and two runs with six walks but kept the Titans off balance with changes of pace and regularly worked out of trouble, stranding 12 runners in the game.

UWO scored its only runs of the game with single tallies in the first and third inning, with Amanda Martineck hitting a two-out single to drive in a run in the first and Mary Kate Quaid's infield single in the third sending in another run. Those would be enough as Lakeland recorded just three hits in the first game and did not advance a runner past first base against starter Sydney Nemetz and reliever Skyler Calmes, who pitched the final inning after Nemetz went six innings and allowed two hits with six strikeouts.

Klauer pitched three scoreless innings to begin the second game, using a steady breeze blowing in to get seven flyouts among her first nine outs. The Titans broke through in the fourth, with a mix of hard hit balls just past defenders and soft fly balls dropping resulting in three runs and Klauer exiting after 3 2/3 innings, having allowed six hits and three runs.

The Muskies hit the ball harder in the second game and broke through in the fourth for a run. Peyton Harlow (Jr.-La Porte, Ind.) reached on an infield single, Maddie Raske (So.-Tinley Park, Ill.) singled through the left side and Kendyll Holub (So.-Sturtevant, Wis.) walked to load the bases with one out, and Sydney Meyer (Jr.-Crown Point, Ind.) hit a single to left center to drive in Harlow and make it 3-1.

Oshkosh added two more runs in the fifth, taking advantage of a trio of softly hit balls dropping for hits against relief pitcher Jacie Jones (Jr.-Prairie du Sac, Wis.). Morgan Rau's flare to center field scored a run and Sarah Hammerton added a sacrifice fly to left field to bring in another run.

Lakeland added another run in the seventh and even got the tying run to the plate with two outs. Abby Heitman (Jr.-St. Francis, Wis.) singled and McKenzie Staudinger (So.-Manitowoc, Wis.) walked, and Jordan August (Sr.-Schererville, Ind.) hit a single to right to drive in Heitman and make it 5-2. Harlow followed and hit a line drive to center but Hammerton got to it to end the game.

Raske went 2-for-2 in the second game and also added a walk and Meyer also posted two hits on the day. Jones finished allowing six hits and two runs in 3 1/3 innings, while UWO's Grace Nardi earned the win and Calmes picked up her second save of the day.

Lakeland is on the road for its next games Saturday against Northern Athletics Collegiate Conference-leading Dominican University, with the doubleheader in River Forest, Ill., starting at noon.