With a berth in the Big Ten Tournament on the line, the Wisconsin softball team (5-11 Big Ten, 26-19 overall) must sweep Minnesota (3-8, 21-21) on the road this weekend. Both games of the series will be played at noon on Saturday and Sunday.
Not only will the Badgers need to pull off two victories against the Golden Gophers, but one of two other things must happen for Wisconsin to move into the top eight in the Big Ten. Ohio State, which is currently clinging to its first place position in the standings, must sweep Penn State this weekend. If that does not happen, No. 9 Michigan must sweep instate rival Michigan State to allow Wisconsin admittance into the post-season tournament, which only the top eight teams in the conference can qualify for.
""We have more talent this year than we have ever had, and we just need to step up at big moments. Unfortunately we haven't done it lately, but we have played with the best teams,"" senior center fielder Samantha Polito said.
Last weekend, Wisconsin dropped four games to Michigan and Michigan State, causing Michigan State to pull ahead of the Badgers in the Big Ten rankings.
""We didn't take care of business over the weekend when we needed to,"" said first year assistant coach Julie Wright. ""It was more in our control then and now it's a little less in our control, but we have to take care of what we can control, which is Minnesota.""
Minnesota, which only has three conference wins, just defeated UW-Green Bay in both games of their doubleheader Wednesday night. This ended the Gophers' three-game losing streak and will give them plenty of momentum going into this weekend.
Even though the Badgers are currently on a four-game losing streak, they said they have what it takes to finish well down the home stretch.
""We have the ability to finish the season off strong ... these are the last two guaranteed games of my senior year, so that makes me motivated to do my best,"" pitcher Eden Brock said. ""I just want to do better than last weekend, so I am going to go in there and give it my best to keep people from scoring and to keep their hits low so we have a better opportunity of coming out on top.""
Three batters are currently hitting over the .300 mark, as Polito leads the team with a .368 batting average. Sophomore Ricci Robben and junior Katie Hnatyk follow closely behind with batting averages of .333 and .331, respectively.
No member of the Minnesota squad is batting above .300, as senior Megan Higginbotham leads her team at .292.
From the pitcher's circle, Brock (14-12) has an ERA of 2.04 and 165 strikeouts on the season. Freshman Letty Olivarez (9-7) is also throwing well for the Badgers, with an ERA of 2.18. Minnesota's three top pitchers each have seven losses, but their best performer, sophomore Briana Hassett (10-7), also has a great ERA at 2.15 with 134 strikeouts.
""I really feel like if we make it to the Big Ten Tournament and if we come out and play well, there's a chance we can make it pretty far from there ... it's just a matter of if we get the chance to go on,"" Polito said.
