Following a rain-shortened series this past weekend at Illinois, the Wisconsin softball team returns home today for a doubleheader against the Fighting Sioux of the University of North Dakota.
The teams have two common opponents on the season, San Diego and South Dakota.
Playing both teams in non-conference play, North Dakota went 1-3 versus the Toreros and Sioux, while the Badgers went a perfect 3-0.
North Dakota (12-30) comes to Madison at the perfect time, providing the Badgers with an opportunity to reboot their young offense after scoring zero runs and registering just one hit against the Illini on Saturday. UW will also be looking to continue its three-game home winning streak.
Unlike the formidable pitching the Badgers have been facing throughout Big Ten play, the Fighting Sioux do not possess one pitcher with an earned run average below 4.86, and they have no starter with an ERA under 5.73. These numbers are especially bad compared to baseball, because softball is just seven innings; thus many of the top pitchers in the conference have ERA’s lower than two.
Today’s likely starter for North Dakota, Emma Gronseth, is 7-14 in 21 starts with an earned run average of 5.82. She is also very susceptible to the long ball, having given up 15 so far on the year.
As bad as the pitching staff has been, the lineup for the Fighting Sioux does have several dangerous batters.
Casie Hanson, a fifth-year senior, is batting .435 with six home runs and 18 RBIs, while stealing 24 of 27 stolen base attempts. She brings everything to the table and resembles the speedy slap bunt types of players the Badgers have struggled with in the past.
Additionally, freshman Lindsay Sippola and senior Kristy Alcorn both have 26 RBIs on the season.
To match the potentially potent North Dakota attack, it becomes a matter of streaking together hits and manufacturing runs. It all starts at the top of the lineup with Jennifer Kruger, the program’s all-time leader in stolen bases.
Although she struggled to grind out hits for much of the season, she has been hitting well as of late, recording a hit in her last three games. Krueger was the only Badger to get a hit Saturday.
Her ability to get on base and become a threat to steal once on base puts pressure on the opposing pitchers and allows for freshmen standouts Molly Spence and Shannel Blackshear to see more strikes, increasing their likelihood to drive the ball deep.
Spence and Blackshear have been doing just that recently, combining for 12 runs batted in and two home runs over the team’s last three games.
Despite a poor showing against the Illini, Spence was a bright spot against South Dakota last week, hitting a grand slam and tying the school record for RBIs in a game with seven. She currently sits ninth in the conference in batting average among players with at least 100 at-bats, hitting .374.
Today will mark the last non-conference game to be played this season at Goodman Diamond. Wisconsin’s lone remaining non-conference contest after today is in South Bend, Ind., against Notre Dame. Today should provide the Badgers their best opportunity to send off senior pitcher Letty Olivarez a winner.
Despite her prowess in the circle, Olivarez has been let down by a sometimes spotty middle infield this year and has a rather ugly 9-21 record. The defense has been so unstable that 31 of Olivarez’s 118 runs have been unearned. As a team, UW is third to last in the Big Ten in unearned runs, giving up 48 on the season. Only Indiana (56) and Minnesota have been worse (54). However, the Badgers are middle of the pack in errors, with 47.
Game one of the doubleheader is scheduled to start at 3 p.m., and game two is set for 5 p.m.
