Around this time last season, the UW softball team (2-4 Big Ten, 16-15 overall) was in the same position, hovering around .500 and generally disappointed with its play. However, if it wants to reel off 17 wins in 19 games again, it will have to start at the top of the Big Ten with Michigan State and No. 12 Michigan visiting Madison this weekend.
You look forward to every game, but Michigan, they were No. 1 last year in the country,\ junior pitcher Eden Brock said. ""They're always someone you want to go after and just play your best against and see how well you compare with other teams.""
""They don't do anything fancy. They hit the ball, they make the plays,"" UW head coach Chandelle Schulte said. ""That's what we're trying to do, we're really trying to take each pitch and trying to get better.""
Shockingly enough, the current leader in the Big Ten is not perennial powerhouse Michigan or a very good Northwestern squad. Michigan State (6-0, 29-11) has taken the Big Ten by storm, winning its first six conference games.
The Spartans do not hit for power, as junior Dayna Feenstra leads the team with only six home runs, but they are an excellent contact hitting team. Eight players hit over .275, including twin-sister tandem Nikki and Traci Nicosia who have hit .336 and .317 respectively.
State's true strength lies in its pitching, however, with three excellent hurlers. Junior Rachel Turney anchors the staff with a 13-5 record and a 1.82 earned-run average. Even if hitters run Turney out of the game, sophomore Lesley Noel or freshman Megan Hair are right there to stop the bleeding. Noel owns a miniscule 0.82 ERA and five shutouts, while Hair is 7-3 with a 1.80 ERA.
Although Michigan (5-1, 25-10) may not be exactly where they want right now, the Wolverines remain the defending champions until someone beats them in the postseason. Offensively, they can beat teams many different ways.
Sophomore Samantha Findlay has a team-high .337 batting average and is second with 28 RBIs. But the hitter that really makes pitchers feel ill is senior Becky Marx, who is batting .333 and has 10 home runs along with 35 RBIs.
If the Wisconsin pitchers can shut down the potent Michigan offense, the Badger hitters still have to face the dynamic pitching duo of senior Jennie Ritter and junior Lorilyn Wilson. Wilson had a 42- inning scoreless streak snapped last weekend and owns eight shutouts. Ritter is even tougher, holding opposing batters to a .128 average and striking out 215 of them on the season, leading to a 13-4 record.
For the Badgers to win this weekend, they need timely hitting and dominant pitching.
Junior leadoff hitter Sam Polito has to get on base early as she has all year and sophomores Katie Hnatyk and Joey Daniels need to provide the power. The real key might be the bottom half of the lineup, which has struggled mightily as of late.
""The last couple of days the bottom half of our lineup hasn't hit at all,"" Schulte said. ""We just don't have high enough averages to do that. We have to produce.""
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