The Wisconsin softball team takes their 18-3 record on the road again this weekend to a tournament in Louisville, Ky., the Louisville Classic. The weekend schedule prompts a few ranked opponents for the Badgers on it, including a game against the host team, 11th-ranked Louisville.
This weekend is the Badgers’ fifth tournament on the road and fourth tournament outside the Midwest. Wisconsin has racked up some marquee wins during the past four tournaments including wins over Notre Dame, Stanford and a no-hitter last week against Eastern Kentucky.
The Badgers have traveled all over the country during these first four tournaments compiling their 18-3 start, the best in school history.
“It’s been a long preseason. It’s a ton of games on the road when you play a 55-game schedule and your first 30 are on the road. You better learn how to play away from home, so we’re really pleased how the team is playing,” head coach Yvette Healy said.
At the Classic, Wisconsin is set to face No. 24 North Carolina, Eastern Michigan and Ball State before they conclude the tournament with a game against hosting Louisville. The Badgers have had some tough tournaments over the past month, playing Stanford, California-Berkley and Notre Dame, but Healy thinks this weekend will be the toughest tournament this season.
“This weekend is going to be our toughest weekend, going down to Louisville and seeing them at their stadium,” Healy said. “They’ll be tough, and North Carolina, it’s a lot easier trip for them than it is for us to get there, and they’re going to be phenomenal too so, were excited to see how we match up.”
The Badgers have been anxious to play some of the top teams in the nation, having swept multiple tournaments against inferior competition, but the mentality around the team remains simple: Take each game one at a time.
“We have the team motto – the 1-0 motto – so we go into every game looking at it as being the biggest game of the day,” sophomore center fielder Maria Van Abel said.
The Badgers’ defense and pitching staff have been performing exceptional this season, holding opponents to an average of 2.19 runs per game. That being said, their play should not take away from the Badgers’ offense, which has also been solid early on this season, averaging 5.4 runs per game.
Wisconsin may have impressive offensive and defensive numbers, but Coach Healy is eager to see how the team will compete with the tough competition they will be facing this weekend.
“Louisville is one of the better teams in the country. We want to see how we match up with our pitching, to be able to hold their hitters down,” Healy said. “We want to see how we can do swinging against some of the better pitchers in the country.”
After the tournament, the Badgers will begin Big Ten play, which seems to be always in the back of their minds as they finish out the nonconference. After a long preseason, nonconference opponents sometimes just can’t match the aura of the Big Ten.
“It’s a completely different environment playing in Big Ten than just your preseason,” senior infielder Shannel Blackshear said. “Yeah, you’re playing a lot of tough teams, but it’s almost like a switch gets flipped when you go into Big Ten.”
