Softball: Badgers look to put home field woes behind them against Phoenix

UW looks to utilize advantage at Goodman as they boast poor 4-6-1 record in Madison

by Kristen Larson

April 25, 2016

Courtesy of Jack McLaughlin

For the first and only time all season, the University of Wisconsin softball team will welcome an in-state rival to Goodman Diamond Wednesday, facing off against the University of Wisconsin-Green Bay.

Wisconsin (24-19-1, 9-7-1 Big Ten) welcome Green Bay (16-26, 7-7 Horizon League) in a battle of the UW schools. In one of their last home games of the season, the Badgers find themselves facing the Phoenix right before taking on Northwestern this weekend.

Last time out

The Badgers are coming off a mildly successful weekend against the University of Illinois, going 1-2 on the weekend. While it might not be the desired result the team hoped for, all games were close, with the Badgers only losing by one point on both Friday and Saturday.

Home field advantage?

Having spent a majority of their season away from Madison, it is clear that the Badgers are still getting into the swing of things when it comes to playing at home. With a 4-6-1 record at home and a 9-3 record away, it is clear Goodman isn’t where the Badgers have performed at their best this season.

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But UW cannot let past performances at home dictate how the rest of their home stretch turns out. The Badgers need to use their remaining two series to lock in and smooth out any minor playing mistakes to ensure they’re ready for the Big Ten tournament in two weeks.

Opposing player to watch: Allie Taylor

While Taylor might not be the top batter on her team, there is one category where she finds herself in the first place spot: Home runs. The junior first baseman currently leads her team with six home runs on the season and has a .328 batting average for the season. She is only .002 percentage points behind the leader Acacia Tupa.

While both Melanie Cross and Chloe Miller have six home runs in the record books for UW this season, neither of them have earned a home run since their matchup against Iowa two weekends ago. Taylor has all of the momentum that she needs to help propel the team to a win tomorrow.