Five-and-a-half straight innings of stalemate softball passed before senior Joey Daniels took the plate in the bottom of the sixth against the Panthers of Northern Iowa. The Badgers had been connecting on pitches all night long but had received next to nothing for their efforts. Every solid hit was countered by the Panther's quick gloves and timely throws. Daniels took the plate and put a line drive into left field. An error by junior left fielder Brittany Ruzicka put Daniels at second base.
After all those innings of simply connecting, the Wisconsin batters were finally earning the bases they had been swinging after all night. Daniels advanced to third when junior Theresa Boruta bunted her way to first base. With two on and no outs, it seemed the Badgers would finally end the stalemate.
Boruta utilized her speed and stole second. Sophomore Panther pitcher Sarah Bakey then walked junior Valyncia Raphael, loading the bases. However, it seemed that was as far as the Badgers were going to get. Senior Alexis Garcia took the plate and hammered a line drive up the middle, but a quick glove by Bakey robbed the Badgers of any runs.
The line drive was not quite what Garcia was looking for when she connected with that pitch. If anything we have a runner on three, we need balls hit on the ground hard or we need them in the air,"" Garcia said after the game. ""I sat on a change-up .... It just didn't go through. It's a little frustrating,"" she said.
The level of frustration reached a pinnacle with a Panther three run homerun in the seventh courtesy of junior Brittney Balduf. Balduf's home run put a sour note on the end of a spectacularly pitched game by Badger junior Leah Vanevenhoven.
Vanevenhoven struck out 11 Panther batters, setting a new career record for strikeouts.
