MILWAUKEE -- With the help of a few clutch hits and a strong outing by senior pitcher Jessica Goetz, the Alverno College softball team picked up the 7-6 walk-off win in the second half of its Northern Athletics Conference doubleheader with Wisconsin Lutheran College after dropping the first game, 4-2, at Alverno Field.

With the second game knotted up at six runs apiece heading into the bottom of the seventh inning, sophomore right fielder Shataya McComb (Kingston, N.Y.) connected on a grounder with two outs and two on base, sending it through the middle to score freshman first baseman Jamie Villalobos (Antioch, Ill.), who reached on a left field single, from third base for the Inferno's seventh run to end the game with a thrilling victory.

Alverno (9-19, 3-9 NAC) got its bats going from the get-go, striking for a run in each of the first three innings on four hits after a relatively ineffective offensive effort in game one. The Warriors countered with four runs in the third inning and tacked on two more runs in the fourth to take a 6-3 lead. Alverno drew within one run down by scoring a pair in the fifth on four hits, one of which was a lead-off double by freshman center fielder Bre Hart (Racine, Wis./Park).

Goetz (Milwaukee, Wis./Greendale Martin Luther), throwing her fourth complete game in two days, continued to chip away at the Warriors, preventing them from scoring any further runs after their offensive flurry in the third and fourth innings. Meanwhile, the Inferno tied the game in the bottom of the sixth inning on a sacrifice fly by Hart, scoring junior left fielder Andrea Derrick, who had advanced to third base following a solid double by McComb after reaching on her own single.

After Goetz held the Warriors off for one more inning, the Inferno offense came through to score the winning run and save Goetz from having to spend any more time in the circle for the day. Goetz threw over 300 pitches in both games combined with 14 strikeouts in the first game, just three short of her career high, and added eight more Ks in game two.

"Ideally I wouldn't have to throw 300+ pitches in a day, especially after throwing two complete games yesterday, but I have the drive and the mentality to finish the game strong," Goetz said. "I got to the fifth inning and could have used some help because my arm was feeling like a complete and utter disaster, but I got through it. I was really happy Shataya got that hit so I didn't have to go back out there in the eighth inning."

Alverno head coach Kristin Kosobucki was pleased with the way her team responded from the tough loss in the first game and rallied around each other to snag their first conference win in seven games.

"We've lost a couple of close conference games recently and after dropping the first game today I think we were just getting very hungry for a win," Kosobucki said. "Up until the fourth inning, we scored one run in each inning and when WLC caught up we just didn't give up and kept hacking away at the plate and did a great job hitting today. Jamie sticks in my mind because she had a couple of key hits and did a good job of getting herself on base. Shataya coming up with that key hit was, of course, big as well."

Although this is McComb's first year playing softball at the collegiate level, Kosobucki has been encouraged with how well she has picked up the skills.

"She's done great so far this year," Kosobucki said. "Coming into this season she didn't have much softball experience, but she's one of the best players for handling those pressure situations. During her last at-bat when she batted in the winning run, she kept fighting through several foul balls and eventually came up with a great hit. She's starting to see the ball really well and is getting some hits in return."

McComb went 2-for-4 at the plate with one RBI in the second game, while Villalobos led the Inferno with a perfect 3-for-3 effort to add another RBI. Junior shortstop Megan Burgess (Racine, Wis./Park) also chipped in a pair of singles, one of which was good for an RBI.

Kosobucki was also pleased with the mental toughness displayed by Goetz over the past two days, as Alverno's ace pitcher has thrown 24.2 innings and refused to give up on the last seven innings of the weekend to help propel Alverno to a win.

"She (Goetz) never really says anything about her arm being sore during games," Kosobucki said. "She's a competitor and definitely has that senior mentality on the mound by finding ways to keep throwing strikes and working the batters."

Although Goetz put forth one of her best efforts in the circle for the season in the first game, scattering seven hits in addition to throwing one of her record-setting strikeout performances with just one walk, the Inferno offense couldn't quite string enough hits together to take over. Alverno out-hit Wisconsin Lutheran, 9-7, but the Inferno stranded nine on base to the Warriors' five.

Burgess connected to go 2-2 in the batter's box in game one, while Goetz and McComb were each credited with a RBI in the game.

Alverno will look to add to its NAC win total on Tuesday, April 20, as the Inferno travel to Dominican University to take on the Stars in another doubleheader.

"I think if we can come out hitting the way we did in game two today we should have a great shot against Dominican," Kosobucki said. "I know they'll provide us with some good competition, but if we can just stay hot at the plate we should give them a good game."

First pitch at Dominican is set for 3 p.m. in River Forest, Ill.