While many freshman college softball pitchers are often eased into their roles, a major roster turnover from last season forced Wisconsin softball’s two freshmen pitchers into trial by fire right from the start.

Junior Taylor-Paige Stewart, Wisconsin’s starting rotation ace, has been a workhorse this season, pitching 155.2 innings thus far for the Badgers. But when Stewart has not been able to take the mound for Wisconsin, freshmen Mariah Watts and Annie Davis have had to pick up the rest of the slack.

The two freshmen have combined to throw for 137 innings, which makes up more than 45 percent of the total innings that Wisconsin players pitched in 2015.

Because the throwing motion for pitching softball is less strenuous on the arm than in baseball, pitchers are often able to throw for longer periods of time and on fewer days rest. Nonetheless, a large amount of throwing in softball is still a very taxing endeavor and requires a ton of training and around-the-clock care to manage the heavy workload often asked of college softball pitchers.

While Watts and Davis have not pitched nearly as much their ace Stewart, this season has been a big step up from what it took to succeed in high school. By playing more games than they ever have in a season and stepping into an environment with vastly enhanced intensity and competition, taking over the second and third starter roles have been no walk in the park.

Watts has pitched 90 innings, second overall for innings pitched this season. In those 90 innings, Watts has gone a respectable 8-8 along with posting a 5.42 ERA, which is good for second best on the team. Incredibly, Watts has pitched a complete game in 7 of her 15 starts this season.

Behind Watts in the starting rotation is Davis, who holds a winning record of 3-2 this season, going the distance in two of the five games she’s started.

Davis said Tuesday that to build up stamina, they pitch each day in practice, often even against her own team.

“We throw every single day in practice, so that’s definitely been helping me and my endurance a lot, and we have been facing our team,” Davis said. “We pitch live to our own team quite frequently. When we do have to endure longer games, it’s a good way to have our stamina by having that practice.”

Davis also praised UW athletic trainer Ashley Parr for her key role in aiding their recovery after strenuous pitching performances.

“After we have a start, our trainer, Ashley Parr, is very good at helping us recover right after,” Davis said. “We put on compacts, which is an electrical machine that helps relieve muscle soreness and tightness in our arms.”

While Wisconsin asks a lot out of their pitchers, as does any big time college softball program, the Badgers still see health and safety as the ultimate priorities.

For example, against Green Bay two weeks ago, Wisconsin head coach Yvette Healy chose to rest Stewart because she threw more than 200 pitches in their previous series against Iowa. While Stewart would have surely given the team a better chance of winning both games instead of just one, Healy explained after the doubleheader how she and her program put her players first.

“For us at Wisconsin, it’s always going to be about the kids,” Healy said. “Their well-being is always going to be the most important thing.”

One challenge for Davis and Watts, besides building college softball-level stamina, is developing a college-softball level arsenal of pitches. For Davis, that means working on her breaking ball so that she can use it as a go-to pitch.

“Personally, I am really trying to develop my curveball,” Davis said. “It was working really well for me at the beginning of the year, and I’ve kind of lost some spin on it. I am just trying to continue to get it to break and use it as one of my best weapons.”

Despite often having to pitch in difficult situations and circumstances, there still seems to be no place Davis would rather take the mound than Goodman Diamond for the Badgers.

“This is one of the best collegiate atmospheres in the country,” Davis said. “We have some of the best facilities and best coaches, and it’s just such an honor to be able to wear the motion ‘W’ on my jersey every day.”