Notre Dame handed the Wisconsin softball team a heartbreaking loss Tuesday by power of the mercy rule.
The Badgers committed four errors on the day, which proved too many to overcome as they fell, 9-1 in six innings.
The Fighting Irish (3-0 Big East, 22-7 overall) claimed their fourth straight win in Madison, improving their record to 5-2 in all-time meetings with the Badgers (1-3 Big Ten, 17-14 overall).
Reigning Big Ten Freshman of the Week Amanda Najdek got the start for the Badgers, following her standout performance at Michigan State Sunday, where she earned her first career win.
Najdek was overjoyed when she first learned that she had received the honor.
""I was so excited. I am truly honored,"" Najdek said.
The Badgers faced freshman pitcher Laura Winter, who got the start for the Fighting Irish.
Behind Najdek, the Wisconsin defense held a powerful Notre Dame offense to just one run through the first four innings.
Najdek was brilliant from the start. Sixteen of her first 20 pitches were strikes. She did just what she needed to: she got the Fighting Irish to keep the ball on the ground, leaving the rest to her defense.
Helped out by some great defensive plays courtesy of sophomore third baseman Shannel Blackshear, the Badgers held Notre Dame scoreless in the first two frames, which are usually their most dangerous innings.
The Badgers were the first to score, as freshman first baseman Michelle Mueller singled to center and drove in sophomore pinch runner Abby Gregory in the second inning.
Najdek faced some adversity in the third, with two runners aboard for Big East Player of the Week senior third baseman Heather Johnson. Over the weekend, Johnson drove in RBI number 175 to take sole possession of most RBI's in Notre Dame history.
She added another one as she ripped a single up the middle, bringing in junior outfielder Alexa Maldonado, who scored her first of three runs on the day. Najdek was able to get the next batter, junior infielder Dani Miller to ground out, escaping the inning with just one run, her only one of the day.
For the Irish, Winter started heating up in the third inning, where she struck out senior outfielders Ashley Hanewich and Jennifer Krueger of the Badgers.
A couple of defensive stops in the fourth for the Badgers, including a spectacular, athletic catch from sophomore leftfielder Kendall Grimm, kept the Fighting Irish from striking again.
At the end of four, the game was tied 1-1.
Back-to-back defensive stops from freshman shortstop Stephanie Peace kept the bases empty as sophomore Meghan McIntosh came in to relieve Najdek.
""We were hoping Amanda would get us two times through [the lineup] and she did,"" head coach Yvette Healy said. ""They were hitting her a little bit, and we were going to give them a different look.""
Coming off a poor performance Sunday at Michigan State, where she recorded just one out while giving up three runs, McIntosh hit the first batter she faced on Tuesday and walked the next.
Facing a tough out in Johnson, McIntosh got her to pop up to shallow left. However, poor communication between sophomore second baseman Whitney Massey and leftfielder Ashley Hanewich caused the ball to drop.
The error charged to Hanewich cost the Badgers a run, putting the Fighting Irish up 2-1.
From there, the Irish broke it wide open, and scored four more runs in the inning. Although the Irish scored all five runs in the fifth with McIntosh in the circle, none of them were earned due to Hanewich's error.
The Badgers committed a few costly errors in the sixth, sparking the Notre Dame offense to add three more unanswered runs.
After the game, Healy said that her team needs to focus on reducing the number of errorsit commits that take the team out of games.
""They hurt,"" Healy said. ""We need to work on working hard at practice and figuring out how to eliminate those.""
The scoreboard doesn't accurately represent how close the Badgers were for most of the game. Blackshear admitted that the loss hurt but her team won't let it bring them down. They will use Tuesday's loss as motivation to work even harder.
""Everybody was just upset because we were in it until really late in the game,"" Blackshear said. ""We wanted to win, but this is just going to drive us more to work harder.""
