The Wisconsin softball team (5-7 Big Ten, 26-15 overall) travels to Michigan this weekend to face both Michigan State and No. 9 Michigan. Michigan State (2-5 Big Ten, 26-23 overall) will host a two-game series, the first being played Friday night and the second starting Saturday at noon. The Badgers will then face Michigan (8-2 Big Ten, 37-8 overall) in a doubleheader Sunday, with the first pitch scheduled for 11 a.m.
In Tuesday's doubleheader against UW-Green Bay, Wisconsin senior center fielder Samantha Polito extended her hitting streak to 16 games, setting the highest mark in Badger history. During the streak, Polito has batted .560 and scored 17 runs.
Junior catcher Joey Daniels upped her plate performance earlier this week, hitting a two-run homer in game one against UW-GB and putting in a 3-for-3 performance in game two.
Senior pitcher Eden Brock (14-9) and freshman Letty Olivarez (9-6) come into this weekend with momentum as they both earned a win Tuesday evening. Sophomore lefty Leah Vanevenhoven might also get to throw a few innings during the four-game weekend.
The Badgers can expect Michigan State to come out hungry for a win Friday evening since they only have two conference wins this season. Both wins came against Indiana, which is currently in last place in the Big Ten. Sophomore Kara Weigle and junior Tracy Nicosia have batted well for the Spartans, with batting averages of .381 and .362, respectively. Weigle also has an impressive slugging percentage of .639 with 43 RBI, six homeruns, and is leading the conference in triples with eight on the season.
One of Michigan State's biggest weaknesses comes from its pitching. All three of the Spartans' top pitchers have a high earned run average. Senior Rachel Turney (6-9) leads her team in strikeouts with 83, but also has the highest team ERA at 3.85. Sophomore Megan Hair (8-7) and junior Lesley Noel (6-6) also have thrown solid innings for the Spartans, especially in their non-conference doubleheader sweep at Oakland. Wisconsin cannot afford to overlook Michigan State because it has caught some teams off guard already this year.
Sunday's doubleheader will be a tough one, as Michigan is currently tied for first place in the Big Ten with Ohio State, both holding an 8-2 conference record.
Junior outfielder Alessandra Giampaolo is ranked fourth in the Big Ten with a batting average of .409. She also has an on-base percentage of .476 and a conference-high 17 doubles. Senior teammate Rebekah Milian was named last week's Big Ten Player of the Week for her .611 batting performance in six games, tallying 11 hits, four RBIs and scoring 10 runs. Another offensive threat is junior first baseman Samantha Findlay, with a .358 batting average and the second highest on-base percentage in the Big Ten at .516.
Senior pitcher Lorilyn Wilson (20-4) has a remarkable 1.43 ERA and has struck out a conference-high 245 batters this season. Rookie Nikki Nemitz (17-4) also has a low ERA at 1.71 and has 110 strikeouts. Wisconsin can expect both pitchers to come out firing Sunday.
After this busy weekend wraps up, Wisconsin will have a six-day rest before facing conference foe Minnesota in its last two regular season games on Saturday and Sunday.
