With a doubleheader set to begin at 1:30 p.m. on Saturday against conference rival Iowa, the Wisconsin women’s softball team (2-2 Big Ten, 16-13 overall ) will look to take care of business despite its recent struggles.
Wisconsin (2-2 Big Ten, 16-13 overall) struggled against No. 24 Ohio State (2-4, 21-8) in its first conference series of the year, dropping two games of three against the Buckeyes in Columbus.
Wisconsin (1-0 Big Ten, 15-11 overall) continued its success at home this season with a 6-2 victory over University of Northern Iowa (1-3 Missouri Valley Conference, 16-13) on Tuesday.
Weather was the main factor for the weekend series between the Wisconsin Badgers softball team (1-0 Big Ten, 14-11 overall) and the Rutgers Scarlet Knights (0-1, 15-15) as temperatures hovered below 29 degrees on Friday, Saturday delaying the series first game until Sunday, when the weather took a fortuitous turn and peaked above the coveted 29-degree mark.
The Wisconsin Badgers’ (13-11) trip to Tuscon, Az. for the Wildcat Invitational was a microcosm of their season so far: flashes of elite play mixed in with stretches of costly mistakes as Wisconsin took on tough competition in Tuscon, leaving the tournament with two wins and three losses. Game one came against undefeated No. 24 USC Upstate (18-0). Wisconsin handed the Spartans their first loss of the year behind stellar pitching from sophomore Kaitlyn Menz.
Led by senior shortstop Brooke Wyderski’s red-hot bat, Wisconsin (11-8) took care of business over the weekend at the Under Armour Invitational in Clearwater, Fla.
Wisconsin softball (7-7) had an up-and-down weekend at the Mary Nutter Collegiate Classic in Palm Springs, Calif, going 3-3 against a tough slate of opponents.
This weekend, the Wisconsin Badgers (4-4) will be competing in the the Mary Nutter Collegiate Classic in Palm Springs, Calif. UW will start out the tournament by taking on the Auburn Tigers and the Oklahoma State Cowgirls on Thursday before taking on the Fresno State Bulldogs on Friday.
Coming off a 28-24 season in 2016 and a second consecutive year without an NCAA tournament appearance, the outside expectations for Wisconsin’s softball team were moderate coming into the 2017 season.
Team captain and star senior catcher Chloe Miller was selected 11th overall in the 2017 National Pro Fastpitch Draft Monday night.
After a thrilling finish Friday night that saw the Badgers walk off in extra innings, Wisconsin (7-9 Big Ten, 28-11 overall) struggled to keep up with No. 19 Michigan (13-3, 33-10-1) in game two of the weekend series, dropping the contest 10-2 in five innings. Wisconsin came out of the gate hot and put pressure on the Wolverines early.
Entering the eighth inning of Friday’s thriller against No. 19 Michigan (12-3 Big Ten, 32-10-1 overall), the Badgers (7-8, 28-10) faced a challenge all too familiar.
Earth Day observers who were anticipating a close and exciting softball game between The Daily Cardinal and The Badger Herald might be out of luck.
The UW softball team hopes the phrase, “Things are better in pairs,” will hold true this Wednesday. After taking the series against Purdue last weekend, Wisconsin will host a red-hot Minnesota squad for a doubleheader Big Ten matchup. The No. 5 Golden Gophers swept Northwestern over the weekend, moving their record to an impressive 38-3.
Wisconsin (6-6 Big Ten, 27-8 overall) continued its success away from home this season last weekend, taking two of three games from Purdue (6-8, 17-29) to reach .500 in the Big Ten. The Badgers split the first two games before winning the rubber match Sunday, a template the team has followed in three of their four conference series this year. Freshman Kaitlyn Menz led the way from the mound, allowing only four runs over 14 innings of work and extending her record to 18-5 on the season.
After an exciting finish to last weekend’s home series against Iowa, Wisconsin (4-5 Big Ten, 25-7 overall) will look to build on early Big Ten success and come away with a couple victories against Purdue (16-27, 5-6) in West Lafayette, Ind. The Badgers needed to win last weekend’s rubber match against Iowa to avoid dropping their first two Big Ten series of the year.
In many ways, head coach Yvette Healy is the stage manager for Wisconsin softball. She may not be fielding or hitting during conference games, but she is responsible for ensuring her players walk up to the plate prepared and ready to dominate.
To paraphrase Stefon from Saturday Night Live, this game had everything. The Wisconsin Badgers softball team (4-5 Big Ten, 25-7 overall) won an extra-inning thriller against the Iowa Hawkeyes (3-6, 9-23) by a score of 6-5 thanks to a walk-off RBI by junior shortstop Brooke Wyderski in the 10th inning.
After slamming the Iowa Hawkeyes (9-22, 3-5) in a seven-run rout Friday night at the Goodman Diamond, the Wisconsin Badgers (24-7, 3-5) were outplayed in the second game of the series, losing 4-3.
Wisconsin (24-6, 3-4) rebounded from last weekend’s less-than-stellar showing against Nebraska with a big win, beating Iowa (9-22, 3-5) 8-1 Friday night at the Goodman Diamond.
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