With a single run deciding both games, the Wisconsin softball team split a double header against Northern Illinois yesterday at Goodman Diamond, bringing their record on the season to 12-26.
The Huskies won the first game in extra innings, 5-4, and the Badgers battled back in the second game, scoring three runs in the sixth to win 4-3.
In softball, each extra inning begins with a runner on second base, and the difference in the first game was that Northern Illinois was able to score that runner while the Badgers’ runner was thrown out at home plate. Although Wisconsin didn’t respond to a late deficit in the first game, the team responded in the second, rallying in the sixth. It was the bottom of the order that contributed, despite having been extremely unproductive up until last night.
The two heroes in the second game were left fielder Kendall Grimm and backup catcher Dana Rasmussen. Rasmussen came into the game after Maggie Strange hurt her hand and struck out in her first at bat. She started the Badgers’ two-out rally with an RBI single and was driven in by Grimm, who had been hitless in her last nine at-bats. Grimm was then driven in by a Letty Olivarez triple to deep center to cap the three-run inning.
“I’m really proud because I got it started,” Rasmussen said. “I’m not trying to toot my own horn, but everybody kept hitting behind me, and that’s what we need. We need people to hit behind each other.
“It’s very important for me because I can hit the ball hard and far and I need to be able to show that in a game, not just practice so it means a lot to me to get that chance during a game.”
Grimm felt the same way.
“It was really big, it was a big hurdle for me to get over so I’m glad I got through it and I was just trying to hit the ball through, trying to get an RBI,” Grimm said.
The Badgers’ No. 1 pitcher Olivarez took the loss in the first game, but she was awarded the win after coming on in relief in the second game, moving to 8-20 on the year. Olivarez went eight innings in the first leg and gave up five runs, though none were earned. She then went 1 2/3 innings in the win, conceding only one walk.
The starter for the Badgers in the second game, freshman Meghan McIntosh, started off strong, putting away 14 of the first 19 batters she saw. However, a two out rally in the fifth gave the Huskies a 3-1 lead.
“I’m sure they just caught on to her,” Olivarez said. “They waited a little bit, they didn’t hack at those high pitches that she threw. Sometimes that happens later in the game.”
UW’s lineup went through a few changes as second baseman Whitney Massey left the first game due to illness. Massey actually started in the designated hitter’s position with Karla Powell on first, Katie Soderberg on second, Shannel Blackshear at shortstop and Molly Spence at third. For everyone but Powell, the defense was in positions they haven’t played at all this year, and that may have shown in the second inning of the first game when two errors led to four Husky runs.
The first two batters reached base on errors from Blackshear and Spence, and Olivarez almost got out of the jam relatively clean before a two-out double cleared the bases and gave Northern Illinois a lead.
Olivarez said the poor start on defense had more to do with nerves than anything else.
“I mean we just let things get to us, it was one [error] right after another, and then I gave up a hit so it kind of just bit us in the butt,” she said. “But I think we need to settle down a lot sooner than that. We didn’t come ready and aggressive, each one of us.”
The Badgers felt they could’ve done better in both games, especially the first, but they were happy with their resolve to come back in the second game.
“The first game was basically a heart-breaker,” Rasmussen said. “You never want to lose, especially in the bottom of the eighth. We talked about it in the locker room, we really need to come out and make a statement, and that’s what we tried to do.”
Head coach Chandelle Schulte was unavailable for comment, but the players were optimistic Strange and Massey would be available for today’s series. The Badgers will end their homestand today against South Dakota with another double header that starts at 3 p.m.
