UW is set to take the field again today after a disappointing weekend. The secret is it wasn’t a disappointing weekend because of how the team played, it was disappointing because the team didn’t get the chance to play.
The Badgers (25-15, 7-5) were scheduled to play a doubleheader Sunday against Big Ten rival Indiana Hoosiers, but the game was cancelled and will not be rescheduled. Official reasons for the cancellation were inclement weather and low temperatures. The team can only hope the cancellation will not come back to affect them later on in the season.
“I hope it didn’t hurt us,” head coach Karen Gallagher said. “They weren’t very good conditions to play in, or very healthy for our players to play in and risk an injury in. We hope it doesn’t come back to haunt us. The ball is in our court right now, and we just need to play well.”
With last weekend’s cancellations, the last time the Badgers were in action was April 18th at Illinois-Chicago, a Horizon league team. UW started out the game strong taking a 1-0 lead in the top of the first inning. Mandy Liles would score off second base after Anna Jones lined a double into the right centerfield gap.
The lead didn’t last long, as Illinois-Chicago answered with a homerun in the bottom of the second inning to tie the game 1-1. Only one inning later, the Flames blasted their second homerun of the day to make the score 2-1. Neither team would be able to score again.
“We didn’t play a complete game, and that hurt us,” Gallagher said. “We didn’t get hits when we needed them and our pitching just didn’t have it going on that day. Teams want to play us and they play hard against us.”
Today will be the third Horizon League team the Badgers have faced in the past week. However, UW Green-Bay (5-29, 2-8) will be the least talented Horizon League team on the schedule. Normally a quality program, Green-Bay has been struggling this season.
“I think the key is we are going to have a lot of other kids get an opportunity to play and give some of our starters a break,” Gallagher said. “They have been hungry and working hard all year, so they will get an opportunity to show what they are made of. When you have kids come out day in and day out and work hard and focus and wait for an opportunity, I think now is a good time to give them that opportunity. We are looking forward to doing that.”
The Phoenix are coming off a 2-2 weekend, winning twice Saturday (6-1, 6-0) against Youngstown and losing twice Sunday (0-6, 2-5) against Cleveland State.
Leading Green Bay offensively is senior outfielder Connie Koceja. Koceja has a .301 batting average and leads the team with 31 hits.
The bullpen for the Phoenix is extremely young as two freshmen, Stephanie Hansen and Lizi Sowers, have pitched 27 out of the team’s 34 games this season. Hansen leads the team in wins with a 4-10 record and a 2.58 earned run average. Sowers has pitched to a 1-12 record and a 4.98 ERA.
Even though this may not be the most even match-up, the game will give both teams some good experience with only a limited amount of traveling time needed.
“They are an in-state division one program, so we like to play them and they like to come down to Madison to play us,” Gallagher said. “It is only a couple hours drive and it will be a good opportunity for Katie to get some good work in.”
