After hosting a successful opening weekend in the Big Ten, the Wisconsin softball team will have to take its show on the road to continue its conference season.
The first stop for the Badgers (20-10, 3-1 Big Ten) will be in Columbus, Ohio, where the they will face No. 25 Ohio State team (31-8, 2-2) who finished third last season in the Big Ten.
Leading the Buckeyes is Katie Chain, who was named 2001 first-team all-Big Ten pitcher. This year Chain has a 1.61 ERA and an 11-4 record.
“We are a good hitting team, and we have hit the best pitchers in the country, and we have played the best teams in the country, and I think that is what prepares you for a weekend such as this,” head coach Karen Gallagher said. “I think it just depends on where our hitters are mentally and if their focus level is at the plate.”
The Buckeyes also return Big Ten Freshman of the Year and second-team all-Big Ten player Wendy Allen. Allen is leading the team in RBI with 27 and has pitched well enough to garner to a 9-1 record and a 1.22 ERA.
Rounding out the list of talented players, Ohio State brings to the field second team all-Big Ten players Stacy Roth and Anna Smith and third team all-Big Ten players Kristi DeVries and Jen Link.
Ohio State comes into this weekend .500 in conference play after beating Michigan State 2-1 and 13-0 and losing to No.13 Michigan 5-4 and 8-2.
“Ohio State is scrappy; they play hard,” Gallagher said. “Coach (Linda) Kalafatis has done a good job of recruiting some good key positions and has a good pitching staff. They have good athletes and they play hard, nothing we haven’t seen yet this year. I think it is just a matter of where our game is. Prepare for them, be ready for them, and any given weekend any team in the Big Ten can step up and play their best game so we have to be prepared for that.”
The next stop for the Badgers will be in University Park, Penn., where they will face a struggling Penn State (14-15, 2-2) team.
This will not be the first time the Badgers have seen the Nittany Lions in action. The two teams met Feb. 24 in the NFCA Leadoff Classic in Columbus, Ga., where UW came out on top, 2-1.
“You don’t usually want to face too many Big Ten teams in preseason tournaments, but it kind of gives you an edge and lets you know what they are about,” Gallagher said. “At the same time, it can sometimes be a double-edged sword. We just need to play our game.”
Penn State brings to the field a fairly young team, having graduated eight talented seniors last season. This year’s team features a lineup with only two seniors and a young, untested pitching staff.
UW recognizes this weakness and will try to exploit it this weekend.
“We also have a young team, but an experienced team, and we should be able to step up our game a little bit and utilize our strengths against a young pitching staff,” Gallagher said.
One of these strengths is her star pitcher Andrea Kirchberg, who was named Big Ten co-pitcher of the week. This came after Kirchberg’s three wins and 30 strikeouts this past weekend.
“Andrea works hard,” coach Gallagher said. “She has done a great job and she deserves it; even on her off days she is still one of the best pitchers in the country.”
