The Badgers’ 11-game losing streak is over.

Threatening to go into extra innings for the second time in a week, Wisconsin rallied in the bottom of the seventh to put an end to their losing ways. After having lost the first game of the Border Battle against Minnesota 4-0, the Badgers overcame a thin bullpen and untimely hitting to defeat the Golden Gophers 2-1 on freshman Karla Powell’s walk-off infield single.

“It feels awesome, all our hard work — you know it does pay off,” pitcher Leah Vanevenhoven said.

As the bottom of the seventh began tied 1-1, and following a leadoff popup by outfielder Valyncia Raphael, the game seemed destined for extra innings. Leadoff hitter Jen Krueger got on base by legging out an infield single, which set the stage for third baseman Theresa Boruta. As has been the case so many times during their losing streak, the Badgers were victims of tough calls, tough hops, untimely strong winds and bad breaks in general. In yesterday’s game, Wisconsin finally caught a break.

Boruta, seeking to advance the speedy Krueger, bunted the ball but got under it a bit, popping it up, giving Gopher pitcher Brianna Hassett a great chance to catch it and throw to first to double up Krueger. Fortunately, the spinning ball glanced off of the end of Hassett’s glove, rolled into no-man’s land, where both Krueger and Boruta were able to advance and reach safety.

“Had that not happened … we’d still be playing softball,” head coach Chandelle Schulte said. “That is the break.”

Following a tough ground ball shot toward the second baseman by Livi Abney, the Badgers had runners at the corners, two down, when freshman cleanup hitter Karla Powell stepped up to the plate.

Powell worked the count to 2-2, then barely fouled off a pitch. Had she missed, the threat would have ended. She smacked the next pitch, an outside fastball, off the end of her bat in between the pitcher and the first baseman.

“We had just had a conversation to be aggressive,” Schulte said.

Powell was determined to get to the bag after making contact. She ran toward first base and, instead of running right through the bag, which is supposedly safer and faster, Powell dove, extended her arm and narrowly beat the second baseman to the bag.

“We were going to win that game no matter,” Powell said. “I didn’t care how I was going to get on. I just dug down deep and got to the base.”

Her teammates proceeded to mug their freshman designated hitter while rejoicing in their first victory since April 1.

“One thing I know is that kid has great enthusiasm for the game, and that’s what you saw when she ran that ball out,” Schulte said.

While the bottom of the seventh was certainly the most exciting part of the game, were it not for the unbelievable arm of senior Leah Vanevenhoven, the Badgers would have been on their way towards their 12th consecutive defeat. Vanevenhoven, having just pitched all 11 innings in the Badgers’ second game versus Ohio State on Saturday, was also called upon to pitch all 14 innings of Wednesday’s series due to Letty Olivarez’s recent flu.

Despite losing the first game 4-0, she only allowed three hits and struck out a career-high 12 batters. The 12 strikeouts provides evidence to the fact that Vanevenhoven wasn’t conserving anything despite knowing she had seven more innings to pitch even after the tough loss.

“She’s kind of hot, so we were going to ride her as long as we could,” Schulte said.

Her numbers in the second game were even more impressive, considering the Golden Gophers had already seen all of her pitches, although they still couldn’t find a way to hit them. She allowed just one run, on three hits, while striking out eight more Minnesota hitters.

“Leah’s been pitching amazing. she had like 12 K’s the first game, and she’s just been on fire,” Powell said. “Everyone’s just in the zone right now and when our pitchers are on, we’re on, and just got to keep the momentum going.”