The Wisconsin Badgers softball team employed some late-inning magic to sweep the North Dakota Fighting Sioux in doubleheader action Wednesday afternoon at Goodman Diamond.
In the first game the Badgers rallied from an early deficit and won on a walk-off hit in extra innings, 4-3. In the nightcap, a late inning home run from junior Dana Rasmussen staked Wisconsin to a 6-2 victory.
In the first matchup, North Dakota was able to get on the board in the top of the first inning when Sioux freshman Lindy Sippola singled home Casie Hanson to put the Sioux up 1-0.
The Badgers would respond in the bottom half of the inning on a hustle play. With senior Katie Soderberg at third base, freshman Shannel Blackshear grounded a ball to the third baseman, after watching Blackshear get thrown out, Soderberg came home, diving around the tag for the tying run.
In the top of the third inning, Sioux senior Kristi Alcorn laced an RBI double to left field to score the second North Dakota run, and freshman Kayelee Schoeny quickly followed with a single to left to score Alcorn putting the Sioux up 3-1.
With runners on the corners in the bottom half of the inning, freshman Molly Spence struck out, but junior Jennifer Krueger was stealing on the play and the North Dakota throw to second got away, allowing Soderberg to score from third and cut the North Dakota lead to 3-2.
The Badgers would tie the game in the bottom of the sixth inning when senior pitcher Letty Olivarez lined a single to center field, scoring freshman Kendall Grimm from third.
The two teams would require extra innings and it was the Badgers who delivered. In the bottom of the eighth, tiebreaking rules put freshman Whitney Massey at second base, where she quickly advanced to third on a wild pitch. Grimm then delivered the walk-off single to left to complete the comeback for Wisconsin.
""I was just trying to hit the ball hard,"" she said. ""I knew we had runners on base and I wanted to be the one to score them. I really wanted to get that base hit.""
In the series finale, the Sioux again got on the board in the top of the first when Alcorn singled to right, scoring freshman Cami Bennett from second base.
Blackshear would tie the game in the bottom half of the first, taking advantage of a leadoff triple from Soderberg with an RBI single to left.
After Sioux freshman Toni Schutte delivered an RBI double in the fourth to put North Dakota up 2-1, the Badgers would again have to find a way to rally.
In the fifth inning, freshman Abby Gregory led off the inning with a single up the middle. After a wild pitch and a ground out moved Gregory to third, Krueger chopped a grounder to second that was bobbled by the second baseman, allowing Gregory to score and tie the game for Wisconsin.
In the sixth inning, the Badgers put runners on first and second. With one out, junior Dana Rasmussen stepped to the plate and crushed a go-ahead three-run home run to left field to put Wisconsin up for good. Krueger would add an RBI single in that inning and starter Meghan McIntosh closed the door in the seventh to cement the 6-2 victory for the Badgers.
Rasmussen said she had a bit of a premonition before she stepped to the plate before her huge three-run home run.
""Before I stepped into the box, I knew I was going to hit a home run,"" Rasmussen said. ""I knew Kendall was going to get on, and after I hit one foul pretty far I said to myself, alright this next one is going to go, and it did.""
Soderberg also talked about Rasmussen's clutch blast.
""That home run was awesome,"" she said. ""I'm so proud of her, and so happy for her. She's a Madison girl on her home field and hitting a huge home run, what a big moment.""
