Saturday, the Wisconsin softball team (9-9) played its third and fourth games of the Judi Garman Classic in Fullerton, Calif., where it faced two ranked opponents. The Badgers fell to No. 22 Oregon State 3-1 and beat No. 21 Fresno State 4-0.
In their first game of the day, the Badgers took on Oregon State (15-4), and all of the action came in the third inning. The Beavers scored three times at the top of the inning, and then it came time for Gabby Scherle and Kelsey Jenkins to respond.
Scherle bunted directly to the pitcher but still advanced first base, and then stole second. Jenkins then hit a single to third base, and she and Scherle each stole bases—Scherle third and Jenkins second —before Chloe Miller fouled out and allowed Scherle to score the Badgers’ only run of the game.
During the later innings, the Badgers were hungry for more, but Oregon State’s defensive play did not allow them to score again, and the score remained 3-1 in favor of the Beavers to end the game.
In the second game less than two hours later, the Badgers blanked Fresno State (13-5) 4-0. The first three innings were scoreless for both teams, but in the fourth, Miller hit a single, Sara Novak followed with a walk and Samantha Arents made it to first on an error, allowing Miller to score and putting the Badgers on the board.
Later in the fourth inning, Brianna Flugaur bunted for a single, moving Arents to second with Novak still on third. With the bases loaded, Melanie Cross drove a base hit to left field, bringing Novak home and upping the score to 2-0 in favor of the Badgers.
The Badgers still weren’t done in the fourth yet; Flugaur came home and scored the third run of the frame, bringing the score to 3-0 in the end of the inning.
The Bulldogs tried to rally in the next two innings, but could not come back from Wisconsin’s prolific scoring run.
Adding to the Badgers’ success, Arents blasted a solo home run in the sixth inning to make the final score 4-0 in favor of Wisconsin.
Arents led the team offensively in that game, posting one run, one hit and one RBI.
The Badgers finish their tournament play Sunday morning, facing off against Long Beach State at 11 a.m.
