Following a horrendous start to the weekend, the UW softball team (1-3 Big Ten, 12-13 overall) salvaged a victory Sunday to get in the conference win column. Last Friday and Saturday, the Badgers were soundly beaten by a combined score of 26-3 by No. 15 Northwestern (4-0, 22-8), but Wisconsin rebounded to split with Illinois (1-3, 14-18) in a doubleheader Sunday.
Friday afternoon brought the low point of the Badgers' season thus far. Their bats produced only one hit while the pitching gave up 10 walks and 10 hits in a 16-0 drubbing to a superior Wildcat team.
Junior Eden Brock and freshman Leah Vanevenhoven had extremely rough outings on the mound, as it took both of them to get out of the first inning. Four walks to begin the game gave Northwestern one run, and Erin Dyer homered in the next at-bat to give the Wildcats a quick 5-0 lead. UW junior Megan Smith did not have much more success the next inning, giving up six runs as Northwestern ran up an insurmountable 11-0 lead.
Saturday proved to be slightly better for the Badgers—but not by much. Wisconsin put three runs on the board with two bases-loaded walks and a wild pitch, but the Northwestern batters were too strong, putting up 10 runs to lead the Wildcats to a 10-3 win.
Redshirt freshman Alexis Garcia led the Badger offensive attack with two hits, but NU pitcher Courtnay Foster struck out nine and got out of the jams she needed to. Much of Northwestern's offense came from Garland Cooper, who scored three runs and knocked another five in with three hits including two home runs.
Sunday's first game had better tidings in store for the beleaguered Badgers. Brock pitched a complete game to improve to 9-7 while the offense exploded for eight runs in the first three innings to defeat the Illini 12-7.
As opposed to the games against Northwestern, the Badgers were able to jump on Illinois early. Sophomore infielder Katie Hnatyk hit a three-run homer in the top of the first to give Wisconsin a quick 3-0 lead. Two more runs in the second inning built a five-run lead, but the Illini answered in the bottom half with four runs to make it 5-4 ball game. UW responded with three runs of its own in the third, however, and scoreded four in the seventh to make sure no comeback was in Illinois' future. Junior outfielder Sam Polito set a new single-game UW record with four runs scored in the win.
The second game of the doubleheader had Wisconsin jumping on Illinois early once again, but this time the Illini put together enough of a comeback to get the win. A five-run sixth inning gave Illinois a 9-5 lead they would not relinquish, winning 11-5.
Four errors and two home runs allowed doomed the Badgers to their third loss in four games. A late barrage by the Illinois offense stained a great effort from the UW offense earlier in the game, including a three run homer from Alexis Garcia. The Illini were led by Molly Lawhead, who went 3-4 with a home run and two runs scored.
Next up for the Badgers is a doubleheader at Loyola Wednesday.
—uwbadgers.com contributed to this report.
