Sports: Softball

Struggling UW continues slump

Wisconsin pitcher Leah Vanevenhoven pitched the best game of her career Wednesday for 6 and 2/3 innings. Unfortunately, the last 1/3 was the problem.

With two out and two runners on in the seventh, Vanevenhoven was one out away from pitching the first no-hitter for the Badgers since 2001.

Northern Iowa third baseman Brittney Balduf would have none of that, however, crushing a curve ball deep to left for a three-run home run.

UNI pitcher Sarah Bakey shut down the Badger hitters in the bottom of the inning to seal a 3-0 victory for the Panthers.

“It’s upsetting because Leah was obviously pitching a really good game,” senior Lynn Anderson said. “Giving up that one hit kind of was a downer.”

Wisconsin’s offense was hitting the ball hard all day but couldn’t seem to get any hits to fall.

“We hit the ball hard,” assistant coach Julie Wright said. “We had [what] we call ‘the at ‘em disease.’ We hit the ball right at them all day long.”

Still, when the Badgers did get hits, they could not capitalize and drive in the runs.

Anderson finally broke up the no-hitter for UNI starter Ashley Lepley with a single to right with two out in the fifth inning. Following her was right fielder Ricci Robben with a single, but the runners were left stranded on a fly out to left field.

“We had opportunities to score and didn’t finish,” Wright said, adding that Northern Iowa also played great defense.

Wisconsin’s biggest threat came in the sixth inning.

Catcher Joey Daniels led off the frame with a single to left, reaching second on a fielding error. Junior Theresa Boruta moved her over to third with a bunt single. Following a Boruta stolen base, left fielder Valyncia Raphael earned a walk to load the bases.

With no outs and the bases loaded, the Badgers seemed primed for a huge inning.

Alexis Garcia stepped in for the cardinal and white and hit a hard line drive back up the box, only to have Bakey snag it for an out. The next two Badger hitters, Letty Olivarez and Jennifer Krueger, went down on strikes and grounded out to shortstop, respectively.

“We had been putting the ball in play at the time, so we really felt like we were going to get a run,” Anderson said. “Not to get any is kind of upsetting.”

The nonconference loss for the Badgers drops them to 11-29 overall as the Panthers improve to 15-20, notching their first win in four tries against the Badgers.

On a positive note, Vanevenhoven tallied 11 strikeouts in the game, a new career-high.

“It’s great to have personal records,” Wright said. “I don’t think she’ll look at that today and be pleased, just because she’s a team kid, but Kim Martin’s done incredible things with Leah, and Leah’s grown as a pitcher because of that.”

Looking at the bigger picture, the problems for Wisconsin were the same as usual: low offensive production and trouble keeping the ball in the ballpark.

“I felt like Leah was focused; she battled all game long. I thought she threw brilliant,” Wright said. “That ball [to Balduf] moved; it just was maybe a little elevated, but that hitter never should have been there.”

For Vanevenhoven, the home run was not an issue of leaving the ball over the plate as it has been recently; she credited Balduf with a great hit.

“I even asked Joey and [she said it wasn’t over the plate],” Vanevenhoven said. “It was a curveball and she got it right before it curved, and they were missing [curveballs] all day. So, she just took advantage of it.”

Despite the loss, Wisconsin still feels confident that the nonconference game will be beneficial as they prepare for the weekend’s Big Ten contests.

“I think it helped us, and I think we can take some positives away from it,” Anderson said of the loss. “We just need to get mentally prepared and come back from this loss and know that we have more games to play, and it doesn’t end here.”

Wright believes the team can carry some of those positives as momentum into its next game.

“They hit it right at people, but they hit it solid,” Wright said of the offense. “That’s usually the signs of life for an offense. Whether you’re getting outs or not, if you’re having quality at-bats, that’s signs, so you point to that, ‘Hey, we’re going to take that momentum right in.’”

Next up for Wisconsin is a two-game set Friday and Saturday with No. 5 Michigan (34-4, 7-1 Big Ten), the conference’s top team. The Badgers continue conference play Sunday with a doubleheader with Penn State (27-14, 3-5 Big Ten).