Coming off two tough losses at the hands of Illinois and series splits with UW-Green Bay and Big Ten conference cellar-dweller Indiana, the team is undoubtedly eager to play again this upcoming Wednesday versus Northern Iowa.
“We’ve played really well against some of the better teams in the country and really poorly against some of the weaker teams, so really of all my years coaching, it’s less about our opponent than it is about us,” Schulte said.
Eyes on the future
While the softball team has certainly experienced it’s fair share of inconsistencies, the enormous production seen from many of the team’s underclassmen leaves a fair amount of optimism surrounding the softball program. Sophomore leadoff hitter Jen Krueger leads the Badgers with a stellar .340 batting average. While her bat does the most talking, her outstanding work in center field has spoken volumes as she has made numerous diving catches look routine. Her 16 stolen bases make her a threat to steal as well.
Freshman infielder Karla Powell has been on a tear recently as evidenced by her 4-for-4 performance at the plate against UW-Green Bay and her .304 batting average overall. Sophomore outfielder Ashley Hanewich also leads the team with seven extra base hits.
Schulte is keen to keep one eye on the future as eight new players are coming in next season but is careful not to disrespect the players that are already here and playing their final seasons.
“I don’t want to look to the future for them because that’s not fair to the kids that are here now, but they all understand we’re building towards the future,” Schulte said.
She reinforced the idea there are no quick fixes in sports over a sustained amount of time and that building a strong foundation for a solid program was far more important to her than having little immediate success.
“I underestimated how difficult of a process this would be to change this culture and get kids that could change a program,” Schulte said. “They get it [now], for the first time they see value in something bigger than themselves.”
Building tradition
The tradition of Wisconsin softball is not nearly as prestigious as that of football or basketball, somewhat due to the fact of longevity, but more so because of popularity. In trying to build a stronger appreciation for the sport, Schulte sought out Barry Alvarez, the face of Wisconsin athletics.
“I went up to Barry and asked, ‘Can I please borrow the design of your helmet for softball?’ He asked me, “Why?’ and I said, ‘Tradition,'” Schulte said.
It is the desire to achieve the level of success of other programs at Wisconsin that has earned Schulte the respect of the other coaches. After many top players in the country said no to Wisconsin, Schulte and her staff finally started hearing the response they wanted. The selling points Schulte highlighted were Wisconsin has not had any sustained success and these recruits were potentially going to become the tradition of Wisconsin softball instead of being churned out by an already-existing softball powerhouse.
“I think they chose to come to UW because they believe in a dream — they could’ve been part of a tradition that was already established,” Schulte said. “What I asked them to consider was do you want to be the tradition, so in recruiting, I said, ‘We’re looking for the face of Wisconsin softball and you could be it.'”
