Samantha Polito and the Wisconsin softball team (5-7 Big Ten, 24-15 overall) will be traveling to face UW-Green Bay (4-6 Horizon League, 12-16 overall) in a doubleheader starting today at 2 p.m. Polito, the senior centerfielder with a team high batting average of .368, will have the opportunity to build on her current 14 game hitting streak. If she gets a hit in Game One of the series, she will surpass Julie Borchard for the longest hitting streak in Badger history.
The Badgers, who are currently in seventh place in the Big Ten Conference, just finished a heartbreaking weekend to bring their home game portion of their schedule to an end, dropping two games to Big Ten foe No. 8 Northwestern. Wisconsin also may have to make some minor defensive adjustments in the infield to replace the injured junior shortstop Lynn Anderson. Senior Athena Vasquez had a two-game solid performance against Northwestern this weekend at shortstop; however, filling Vasquez's spot at third base is another dilemma.
Vasquez also has done very well offensively for the Badgers, registering one of Wisconsin's three total hits and scoring Wisconsin's only run in game one against Northwestern, followed by a 2-for-3 performance with both of the team's two RBI on Saturday.
""We played [UWGB] earlier this fall and I really haven't heard much about them lately, but every ballgame means something right now. We're talking about regional standings, we're talking about standings for the Big Ten tournament, so these games against Green Bay are definitely very important for us,"" Polito said.
Wisconsin's senior pitcher Eden Brock (13-9) has been throwing very well so far this season, even though she took both losses this weekend. Freshman Letty Olivarez (8-6) has offered a change in tempo on the mound that most teams struggle adjusting to.
The Phoenix is tied for fifth place with Wright State in the Horizon League standings. Junior pitcher Anna Bluemel (2-8) is ranked fourth in her conference with a low 2.62 earned run average and has 51 strikeouts on the season. Freshman Katie Cooney (5-4) has the most wins pitched for UWGB, along with one save.
As a team, UWGB has been struggling with the bats. In all offensive statistic categories, the Phoenix are listed near the bottom, if not at the bottom, of their conference.
Two wins against UWGB could prove to give Wisconsin enough momentum as they enter another weekend of Big Ten conference play as it will travel to Michigan to battle both Michigan and Michigan State.
