For the first time in 2013, the Wisconsin softball team welcomed a Big Ten team to Goodman Diamond and didn’t disappoint the home crowd, coming away with three conference victories.
Wisconsin (33-9, 10-5 Big Ten) began their series against Ohio State (27-17, 6-9) with a pair of wins Saturday, including a 7-6 victory in the first game that went to extra innings and finished with a walk-off home run in the 10th inning by junior outfielder Mary Massei.
Massei and the Badgers capped off their sweep of the Buckeyes Sunday with a 4-2 win, giving the Badgers four straight conference victories.
Senior pitcher Meghan McIntosh got the nod Sunday after pitching a gem in the second game of the doubleheader Saturday 3-1, where Ohio State’s only run came unearned.
McIntosh picked up right where she left off Sunday, keeping the Buckeyes scoreless until the sixth inning when Ohio State’s Cammi Prantl came up with a double that brought around Taylor Watkins from second, tying the game at one.
OSU sophomore pitcher Alex DiDomenico went toe-to-toe with McIntosh on the mound, keeping Wisconsin’s hitters to just one run until the bottom of the sixth inning when the Badgers’ bats came to life.
Until the sixth inning, Wisconsin’s only hit came from the bat of Massei, who gave the Badgers the early lead with a home run to deep center. Massei ended her day 2-2 from the plate with two runs and an RBI.
“I’m just taking hacks at good pitches,” Massei said. “I just opened up my stance a little bit. That first at-bat I got a lot of inside pitches, so I just wanted to make sure I could get my bat through it and take a hack.”
Massei kickstarted the offense again in the bottom of the sixth with a one-out single. Kendall Grimm moved Massei into scoring position with a walk and then it was catcher Whitney Massey who hit a bomb off DiDomenico into deep left field to give Wisconsin the 4-1 lead.
As McIntosh came out in the seventh, she was looking to earn her 10th complete game of the season.
Ohio State jumped on McIntosh with a lead-off double from Melissa Rennie. Rennie then came around to score on an error by Wisconsin first baseman Shannel Blackshear who let the ball get past her on a throw from shortstop Kendall Grimm.
McIntosh was able to close the door on the Ohio State comeback, holding the Buckeyes to just the lone unearned run in the top of the seventh, giving the left-handed hurler her 10th win on the season with a 4-2 victory Sunday.
“I was just hitting locations and getting them to put the ball in play, keeping the ball in the park and letting the defense work,” McIntosh said.
McIntosh ended Sunday’s game with six strikeouts and only one earned run just a day after picking up a victory in the second game of Wisconsin’s twin bill, where she was even more effective, giving up zero earned runs in a 3-1 win over Ohio State.
“I don’t think it’s just my pitching, we had a lot of good defensive plays out there all three games this series,” McIntosh said. “I was just keeping them off balance and just keep getting them out.”
Healy entered Sunday’s game intending to keep McIntosh on the mound for only about half the game as a precaution to not overwork the lefty’s arm after she pitched seven innings Saturday, but after seeing how effective McIntosh was, Healy had no choice but to leave her in.
“We gave Meghan the nod, thought maybe [McIntosh and Cassandra Darrah] could split it that way, and she just went the distance,” Healy said. “We were happy for her.”
Wisconsin’s junior ace Darrah took the mound for the Badgers in the early game Saturday and was caught in a barn-burner as the Buckeyes showed why they have the fourth-best offense in the Big Ten putting up six on the right-hander.
Darrah was cruising with the 3-0 lead until the top of the fourth when the Buckeye batters jumped all over the pitcher, putting up five runs and taking the 5-3 lead.
After Ohio State took one more run from Darrah in the top of the seventh, it took some late-game heroics from Wisconsin, who proved to be up the challenge scoring three runs in the bottom of the seventh, topped off with a bases-loaded sacrifice fly from Michelle Mueller to tie the game at six.
It wasn’t until the bottom of the 10th when the Badgers finally broke the stalemate on a walk-off home run by Massei to give Wisconsin the 7-6 victory in extras.
Massei ended her three-game series against the Buckeyes 6-10 from the plate, two home runs and three RBIs.
“Incredible,” Healy said of Massei’s play over the weekend. “She was seeing the ball well. It helps when she and Whitney [Massey] are putting the ball over the fence, that’s fun. So, we’re really proud of her and she helped us a lot.”
