The clouds may not have been in the sky, but a black cloud certainly hung over the heads of Badger softball players this past weekend. Things just didn't go quite as well as the team had hoped as it split two games with the Ohio State Buckeyes and dropped two games to the Penn State Nittany Lions. Going into the weekend, the team's 3-1 Big Ten record and 21-9 overall record had people starting to get excited. To come out of the weekend with a 4-4 Big Ten record was somewhat of a letdown.
\We're having a pretty good year so far,"" Head Coach Karen Gallagher said during Monday's news conference. ""However, being the realist that I am, you are only as good as your last game and we didn't play well our last game'our last few games.""
Star senior pitcher Andrea Kirchberg, who, along with Michigan's senior Kelsey Kollen, was named Big Ten Co-Pitcher of the week last week, also expressed the team's disappointment from last weekend.
""We're disappointed. Very disappointed. We are realizing what we're not doing in ourselves and I think the girls are finally looking deeper to figure out what mistakes they are making instead of leaning on somebody else,"" Kirchberg said.
As the team approaches the halfway point in the season, there are certain mistakes that need to be reevaluated.
""When you're 30 games into your season and you're still making mistakes that you might be able to accept your first week of the season, then you do have to reevaluate things and work harder on things, whether it's a mental game or a physical game,"" Gallagher said.
The Badgers will need to bounce back this next weekend in order to regain their standings. The road trip will feature Friday and Saturday games at Michigan State and a Sunday double header at 13th'ranked Michigan. The Michigan game should be an especially tough challenge for UW.
""They [Michigan] hit well, pitch well and play good defense,"" Gallagher said. ""They're a pretty complete team. And you have to do the same thing against them. We haven't been playing good defense lately and so I think that's a big key for us this weekend.""
Despite coming out of a disappointing weekend and heading into what looks to be another challenging one, the team's morale remains very high.
""I am seeing a very positive attitude because we're very motivated,"" Kirchberg said. ""We've just lost three games and in order for us to do well in the Big Ten, we can't lose another game.""
Co-captain and sophomore first baseman Meghann Reiss shared a similar outlook. ""I think this weekend is pretty pivotal for us,"" Reiss said. ""We didn't have a very successful weekend last weekend and we took some time today to reevaluate and look forward to this weekend, and hopefully we'll come out of there with a couple wins.""
Spirits were high and the sun was shining on Goodman field during Tuesday afternoon's practice. After returning from Penn State to a gloomy, rainy Madison on Sunday, the team welcomed the sun and warmer weather.
""This is awesome, this is why we play softball'to play out in weather like this,"" Riess said.
Badger players, coaches and fans alike certainly hope the sun will be shining for the team this weekend in Michigan.
