In the middle of the third inning of Sunday’s game against Penn State, the Badger softball team found themselves on the wrong end of a 3-0 score. Penn State jumped to an early lead, scoring one run in the first inning and two in the second. The start of the game was quite ugly, to say the least, for Wisconsin.
The Badgers went three-up three-down in the bottom of the first inning, underwent an early pitching change from junior Leah Vanevenhoven to sophomore Letty Olivarez and failed to drive in a runner from third base in the bottom of the second.
Despite the rough start, the Badger bats came to life in the bottom of the third. With two outs and freshman Jennifer Krueger at second, senior Joey Daniels connected on a base hit that allowed Krueger to utilize her speed and score from second.
Junior Theresa Boruta bunted her way to first base, advancing Daniels to second. Junior Valyncia Raphael took the plate and crushed a flyball to deep center field.
“We were just looking to adjust and hit anything that was close,” Raphael said.
Both Daniels and Boruta scored on the hit. Senior Alexis Garcia took the plate next, but Raphael was not content with just a double. Before Garcia could advance her further, she stole third base and scored after a Penn State error at third base.
Garcia singled to center field and then advanced to second after Olivarez walked. Senior Lynn Anderson batted both Garcia and Olivarez in with a double to center.
At the end of one spectacular inning of hitting, the Badgers had six runs off of six hits. With their early adjustments and explosive third inning, the Badgers were able to hold off Penn State for the 8-3 victory.
Bats disappear in Game 2
Despite the success of Wisconsin batters in the first game of Sunday’s doubleheader against Penn State, the offensive firepower did not carry over into the second game.
A Nittany Lion pitching change in game two left the Badgers scratching their heads. It seemed a ball leaving a Badger bat had only one place to go after contact—a Penn State glove—something UW head coach Chandelle Schulte likes to call the “at-em’s disease.”
Junior Leah Vanevenhoven served as the sole source of inspiration in game two. After being pulled shortly after the first inning in game one, she pitched with a vengeance in game two, striking out eight batters.
However, the lack of run support from the offense put Vanevenhoven in a tough spot late in the game when she gave up two runs.
Daniels went 2-for-4 in game one but failed to produce a hit in three chances in game two. Raphael also failed to produce runs in game two after going 2-for-4 in the first game.
Schulte attributed the dramatic change in batting to the pitching change made by Penn State in game two. Schulte said the off-speed pitching of Penn State freshman Jackie Hill, “dumbfounds us.”
“You’ve got to make adjustments, and we didn’t do that very well … We also didn’t take advantage of some opportunities,” Schulte said.
