After dropping three straight conference games, the Wisconsin softball team travels to Michigan this weekend for two pivotal series. The Badgers will play Michigan State Friday and Saturday before heading to Ann Arbor to take a doubleheader against Michigan Sunday.
After opening the Big Ten season 3-1, the Badgers went 1-3 last weekend against Ohio State and Penn State. Currently, the team is tied for fifth place with a 4-4 conference record, 21-13 overall.
“I think we are all trying to figure out what went wrong,” Anna Jones, the team’s second-leading hitter said. “We were playing so well.”
Quiet bats and errors were keys in the losses. The Badgers made two errors in each contest.
“We haven’t been playing good defense,” said head coach Karen Gallagher. “That’s something that is real key for us this weekend.”
In eight conference games so far, Wisconsin has made 15 errors.
“We’re at a point where we should be past the physical errors and the mental errors,” said first baseman Meghann Reiss. “Everybody is trying to do too much at one time, like trying to make a double play before you have the ball.”
Gallagher cited youth and weather as contributors to the mistakes but was quick to not use them as excuses, pointing out that the team needs to focus more.
At the midpoint of the compact Big Ten season, this weekend’s games are important.
Michigan State is currently in the midst of a seven-game winning streak. The streak includes three Big Ten victories and has improved MSU’s conference record to 3-3, 20-21 overall.
Michigan comes into the game in second place with a 5-1 record. The team’s lone conference loss on the year was to Penn State. Overall, the No. 13 Wolverines are 27-7 on the year.
The well-rounded Michigan team is led by sluggers Kelsey Kollen and Stefanie Volpe. Each is hitting near .400 with three home runs apiece.
Despite the recent struggles, UW’s confidence is still high.
“They are a good team,” Jones said. “But I definitely think we can beat them.”
Offensively, the Badgers have yet to hit on all cylinders.
“I’d like to see the whole team consistently hit together, but we haven’t had too many of those performances,” Gallagher said.
The team currently has a .240 batting average and is scoring 3.1 runs per game.
In last weekend’s three losses, the Badgers managed just 13 hits and two runs. In their win Friday, the team had 10 hits but was only able to score twice. Contrarily, Wisconsin collected 37 hits and 16 runs in the first four Big Ten games.
One thing the team doesn’t have to worry about is pitching.
Wisconsin’s pitchers have been the strongest and most consistent area for the Badgers this season.
Andrea Kirchberg and Katie Layne, the only players to throw a pitch the entire season for the team, have a combined 1.61 ERA.
“I always tell the kids, you get Andrea and Katie a few runs, play good D behind them and we’re walking out of here with a win,” Gallagher said.
