CLEARWATER, Fla. — With poor weather wiping out the latter half of Saturday’s and all of Sunday’s action, the University of Wisconsin softball team was one of the lone groups to play all five of their games in Florida.
Unfortunately for UW, they found themselves on the losing end of all five competitions.
After dropping two tight battles against ranked opponents in the University of Georgia and the University of Kentucky the day before, the Badgers had two more games right away on Saturday against No. 8 Oklahoma State University and the University of Central Florida.
In their first game, infielder Alivia Bark — one of UW’s top performers on the weekend — launched a home run to left-center to give the Badgers a 2–1 advantage.
Infielder Ava Kuszak — from the bottom of the order — clutched up with a base hit to drive in catcher Hilary Blomberg and extend UW’s lead to 3–1 at the conclusion of the second inning.
One frame later, outfielder Brooke Kuffel caught a barrel and hit her team-high fifth home run of the season. After the Cowgirls answered with a run in the top half of the inning, UW continued to pull away with a 5–2 cushion.
Oklahoma State responded in a big way though, scoring the final seven runs of the ballgame. The Cowgirls put pressure on the Badgers’ defense and capitalized on a throwing error with two outs. Pitcher Shelby Jacobson flashed signs of quality pitching in the circle, but was eventually overwhelmed by Oklahoma’s offense.
As the struggles continued for UW on the defensive end, the offense went cold in the final four frames after another hot start out of the gates. The Cowgirls went on to secure a comeback 9–5 victory.
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The storyline became all too familiar in the nightcap against UCF, as the Knights blitzed the Badgers with 21 runs on 25 hits.
Pitchers Tessa Magnanimo, Gabi Salo and Blomberg did not have a response for UCF’s offensive attack, allowing multiple runs in every inning in a 21–9 loss.
UW’s offense continued to show signs of promise, as they responded multiple times to the Knights’ scoring bursts.
Centerfielder Peyton Bannon — one of the Badgers’ captains — jump-started the offense with a solo home run over the left field wall. Bark followed suit, sending out her second home run of the tournament in the fifth inning. Before that, she doubled down the left field line to drive in infielder Emily Bojan.
The offense could not maintain its momentum after the third inning though, combining to plate only one run in the final four frames.
That led to Saturday’s final matchup against No. 5 University of Washington. The Huskies bested the Badgers 9–1 in run-rule fashion, sending UW back to the Badger State with zero wins under its belt.
Infielder Fiona Girardot — a key returner for this group — hit her first home run of the season early on. It proved to not be enough, as Washington used a four-run third inning to pull away.
While the Badgers came away winless in Florida, the group earned the opportunity to face some of the best competition in the nation, which could prove vital come Big Ten play. They can bounce back quickly starting on Thursday, when they play six games in three days at the Mary Nutter Collegiate Classic in Cathedral City, California.
