The Wisconsin softball team (1-3 Big Ten, 14-13 overall) played a doubleheader yesterday against Loyola-Chicago (8-25), going 2-0. The highlight of the doubleheader was definitely in the seventh inning of the first game, which UW won 6-5.
A three-error seventh inning for Loyola opened the door for the Badgers to score two runs and capture the 6-5 win. With two outs and bases loaded, junior outfielder Stephanie Chinn hit a line drive to the shortstop, who first mishandled the ball, and then in a panic tried to flip the ball to third base, missing horribly.
This terrible chain of events for Loyola allowed juniors Sam Polito and Athena Vasquez to score and gave the Badgers the lead. Junior Eden Brock did not allow a hit in the bottom half to preserve the lead and earn the victory. She finished with seven strikeouts, three walks and seven hits. Helping Brock with run support was sophomore infielder Katie Hnatyk, who had two hits, including a home run and three RBIs. Polito also scored three runs in the game.
Hnatyk's two-run bomb in the first inning gave Wisconsin the early 2-0 lead. But Nora Schober answered for LUC with a two-run blast of her own in the third inning. Schober was a force for Loyola, going yard twice herself while tallying five RBIs.
UW got the lead back following Chinn's RBI double in the fourth. Hnatyk made it a 4-2 game in the fifth inning with a deep single to center field that once again brought home Polito. In the bottom half, Schober's second home run of the day scored three and gave the Ramblers a 5-4 advantage.
However, Loyola would not be able to hold their lead. Errors proved costly for Loyola, with all three coming in the disastrous seventh inning that left Loyola with a 6-5 loss.
In the second game, Wisconsin easily won 12-0. Sophomore Lynn Anderson, junior Athena Vaquez and freshman Valyncia Raphael each hit one out of the park as nine different Badgers got at least one hit. Freshman pitcher Leah Vanevenhoven (2-4) tallied eight strikeouts and just one hit to earn her second complete-game shutout of the year.
UW opened the contest with a five-run first inning, highlighted by Anderson's three-run home run to left-centerfield. The Badgers added two more runs in the second and three more runs in each the third and fourth innings to finish the game 12-0.
