The University of Wisconsin softball team wrapped up their non-conference schedule by welcoming DePaul University and the University of St. Thomas to Goodman Diamond on Tuesday and Wednesday.
To begin the week, the Badgers blitzed the Blue Demons and started the game with a seven-run first inning. Peyton Bannon’s three-run home run highlighted the inning, and it propelled the Badgers to an 11-1 victory.
One frame later, Kayla Konwent continued to stay hot at the plate. She smacked a home run to the opposite field and extended UW’s lead.
The cardinal and white used three pitchers, Tessa Magnanimo, Shelby Jacobson and Gabi Salo to navigate through the five innings of play. Jacobson, a freshman, got her first action of the season by pitching two innings and striking out two.
A day later, the Badgers played two games against St. Thomas to make up the doubleheader from a couple of weeks ago.
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Similar to the DePaul game, the first game presented a similar storyline for Wisconsin. Dominant pitching arrived from Maddie Schwartz and Paytn Monticelli. The two combined to strike out nine Tommies over five innings of work. Schwartz scattered two hits, reached base on a walk and did not allow a run in her three innings.
Nine runs in the second inning guided the Badgers to a 10-0 run-rule victory. UW had seven hits in the inning and sent 12 batters to the plate. Two of those hits came from Molly Schlosser, who put together a 2-for-2 day with three runs scored and a walk.
Brooke Kuffel, Christaana Angelopulos and Skylar Sirdashney all had two hits on the day. The trio led the offensive onslaught against the St. Thomas pitching staff.
The Badgers scored the same number of runs in the second match, but UW couldn’t get enough stops on defense to hold down the Tommies. Wisconsin dropped its 11th game of the season with a final score of 12-10.
St. Thomas snapped UW’s six-game winning streak in this one with the help of Avery Wukawitz and Mackenzie Rudy.
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Wukawitz finished 4-for-5, including five RBIs and the three-run home run that gave St. Thomas their first lead of the day. Rudy chipped in two hits and four RBIs as well.
The cardinal and white had a hot offensive start, but UW eventually went cold in the last four innings. Katie Keller was the spark plug, going 3-for-5 with a double and two home runs, including an inside-the-park four-bagger.
Along with Keller, Bannon put together another quality performance. She finished 3-for-4 with a triple and two RBIs. Schlosser was 2-for-4 with a double and triple as well.
Unfortunately for Wisconsin, though, they could not keep up with the production from the Tommies. The offense only mustered two runs in the last four innings after putting up eight in the first three.
The Badgers finished with a 16-8 non-conference record, which will be key to their resume come playoff time in May. They now move on to facing No. 22 Northwestern in a battle at the top of the Big Ten Conference. UW has the opportunity to get multiple big wins at Goodman Diamond, starting at 5 p.m. Friday, April 14.
