Wisconsin last played Saturday against Illinois, where they were no-hit in the early game of an Illini doubleheader sweep. Playing poorly in the first game of a series has been a trend for the Badgers at home.
“That’s what we talked about; we said we need to feel success pretty early in the game,” UW head coach Chandelle Schulte said. “So that’s really what our lineup will be based around, kids that will keep us in there immediately, and then we’ll make adjustments from there.”
Pitcher Letty Olivarez, who was pulled from the circle in the 8-0 loss to Illinois agreed the Badgers need to find consistency.
“I think we just need to pick each other up and make sure we’re there for each other throughout the whole game, not just the beginning or the end,” Olivarez said.
In Northern Iowa, Wisconsin will face another opponent with a powerful offense. While the Illini had two key players on offense, the Panthers have a much more balanced lineup. UNI’s lineup features four starters hitting over .300 as well as four players with at least 20 RBIs. Catcher Kelly Papesh has smashed 11 home runs on the year, and MVC player of the week Rachel Gerking has seven homers to go with a team-leading 34 RBIs.
“We don’t have that [power]. We will try to keep it out of their power zones,” Schulte said. “Illinois had a lot of home runs — they didn’t have any against us. If we can keep it in the park, we’ll have a better shot.”
Even if Wisconsin stymies a Northern Iowa team that has outscored its opponents by 50 runs on the season, it will need to remedy its own anemic offense. The Badgers struggle with a .236 team batting average and scored just two runs in its doubleheader with the Illini. While UW doesn’t have to outslug UNI, it does have to find a way to score.
“We don’t have to hit home runs if we get base hits. If we hit our balls on a line and hit them hard, that’s successful to us,” UW first baseman Alexis Garcia said. “[We don’t need] a home run every time.”
Compounding the matter will be the fact that Northern Iowa has a legitimate ace in pitcher Jen Larsen. Larsen is 13-6 in 18 starts with just a 1.77 ERA and .246 batting average against. Schulte said Wisconsin will counter with senior Leah Vanevenhoven in the first game. The southpaw allowed just three runs in her last start and has a 4-6 record thus far with a season ERA of 3.32.
For Wisconsin to be successful, it will need to buck its trend of playing inconsistently on both sides of the ball. The Badgers have a tendency to stop hitting when they’re pitching well. The defense also seems to buckle in inopportune moments, owing to a combination of mental and physical mistakes. Garcia thinks the Badgers are able to play with a short memory.
“If we make a mistake, that’s totally fine, it’s what we do about it. [If we] get up and make the next play, then we’re fine,” Garcia said.
Though Schulte stresses UW prepares one game at a time, she said a good performance tonight could carry over into the weekend when it faces conference foe Penn State. If the Badgers can put all three aspects of the game together and avoid letdowns like they did in dropping games to then 2-19 North Dakota and 3-23 Indiana, it could go a long way toward helping the team’s morale, Schulte said.
First though, Wisconsin needs to get past Northern Iowa, which looks to be a tall task if it doesn’t give a complete, consistent effort.
“We’ve got to have a perfect storm for that to happen,” Schulte said, “So far, we’ve had lots of storms, but none of them have been perfect.”
