On the strength of a record-breaking day, the Wisconsin Badgers (14-26) swept the Coyotes of the University of South Dakota (12-27-1) in a doubleheader Wednesday, winning 5-1 in game one and taking the nightcap 10-2 in five innings.
Game one was highlighted by a gem turned in by Badger pitcher Letty Olivarez.
One of only two seniors on the team, Olivarez went the distance in the opener, giving up only a solo home run to Alexa Rudeen while striking out 17 batters, which tied a school record.
The Badgers, who have wasted several other great starts by Olivarez, took advantage of her start this time and cruised to the victory.
Game two was not quite as close, however, as the Badgers scored in every inning except the fourth, enforcing the eight-run mercy rule in the fifth inning. Additionally, freshman Molly Spence set a school record with seven runs batted in.
In a five run third inning, Spence’s first career grand slam cleared the bases and allowed ample breathing room for pitchers Meghan McIntosh and Kristyn Hansen.
“We came out with some confidence,” Spence said. “Yesterday was yesterday, and today was today. We were just trying to show it was a new day and bring out our bats.”
Yesterday was a record-breaking day for several Badgers including the long-awaited arrival of strong play by junior centerfielder Jennifer Krueger, as she stole her 20th and 21st bases of the year, passing Carin Bouchard for most stolen bases in a season.
Krueger already holds the career stolen bases mark, but she fell just short of the single-season record a year ago.
Despite her prowess on the base paths, Krueger had been struggling of late, only hitting .219 coming into Wednesday’s games. With Krueger struggling, it really made things difficult for an otherwise productive middle of the lineup.
Fortunately for the Badgers, Krueger broke out of her slump against the Coyotes, going 3-for-4 with a walk, while scoring three runs and stealing the two bases.
When asked about the importance of Krueger on the base paths, Spence reiterated just how important Krueger’s speed is to the team.
“[She] means a lot. When she’s on base and she gets to second with a steal, she’s in scoring position, and she put herself there,” said Spence. “With her speed on the bases, it doesn’t have to be a huge hit, it’s just got to be a single and you know she can just keep running.”
Spence had a career day of her own, breaking the school record for most RBIs in a game with seven, three times plating the speedy Krueger.
Like Krueger, Spence also had been struggling a little bit of late, yet she still leads the team in almost every offensive category.
Her career day cemented her place in program history, and she will go down as one of Wisconsin’s all-time best freshman contributors, in line to have the best average, slugging percentage and on-base percentage.
She also is very close to becoming the freshman leader in hits, runs, doubles, triples, home runs, runs batted in, total bases, walks and stolen bases.
“I didn’t try to do anything special [today]. I didn’t even know I had that many RBIs to be honest,” said Spence. “It was good. I struggled a little bit these past few weeks, [and] to able to hit and get my power back was great.”
While Spence may be humble and shy away from talking about her accolades, her teammates certainly are not.
“She means a lot,” said Olivarez about Spence. “When she gets up there and we have people on base, we’re always counting on her. She takes on a lot of pressure, and it’s nice to know that she’ll come through for us.”
The sweep, which was only the team’s third of the season, comes right in time for one of the hardest road trips of the year, as the Badgers travel to Champaign this weekend to take on the No. 19 Illini.
“We will carry on the momentum; we actually talked about that as a team with all our coaches,” said Olivarez. “We just gotta keep moving on and being positive.”