The Wisconsin softball team will be looking for its first conference wins of the season this weekend as they take on Purdue (1-1, 22-13) and Indiana (0-2, 12-14).
UW (0-2, 11-14), who lost its Big Ten season opener to Iowa (4-0, 25-6) last weekend, is looking to recreate the success they had earlier this season when they beat two Top 25 opponents, No. 15 Fresno State and No. 23 Oregon State.
The Badgers opened the 2003 season playing in five tournaments, including the Fiesta Bowl, where they beat Fresno State and Oregon State, and the Triangle Classic, where they won all three of their games before rain brought an early end to the tournament.
While UW is currently 0-2 in Big Ten play and 11-14 overall, the team is looking to improve its record as the Big Ten season gets into full swing. The team fully expects themselves to make a formidable run at the Big Ten conference championship.
“We came into the Big Ten season thinking we could win a Big Ten title,” head coach Karen Gallagher said. “Right now we’re 0-2, along with a lot of other teams in the conference. It’s early, anything can happen.”
According to Gallagher, in order for the Badgers to achieve their goal of being Big Ten champs, they will have to continue working on their game and continue to improve throughout the season.
“I don’t think right now we’re playing our best ball. I think there are certain aspects of our game we need to continue to improve,” Gallagher said. “That’s the beauty of the game though; you accept what you are doing well and then you work on the things you don’t. That’s what practice is for.”
She also said the team needed to do a better job of putting the ball in play, along with working to improve the UW defense, which, according to Gallagher, has been improving considerably in the past few weeks.
The Badgers will also need to improve their hitting if they hope to stay competitive this season. As a team, the Badgers are currently hitting .189, while their opponents are averaging .222.
“Our hitters need to step it up and they know that. That’s an area we’re focusing on right now,” Gallagher said.
Sophomore catcher Boo Gillette, who leads the Badgers with a .284 batting average, also agrees with her coach’s assessment that there are areas where the team needs to improve.
“We’re off to kind of a slow start. But our defense improved a lot this weekend, and our pitching is coming around,” Gillette said. “These things are going to happen. But hopefully next weekend we’ll do better. Our hitting is coming along too, so that should help us a bit.”
With teams only a few weeks into conference play, the race for a Big Ten title remains wide open.
“The Big Ten is getting tougher and tougher every year, and it’s getting more and more competitive,” Gallagher said.
Although Wisconsin has played only one team in the Big Ten so far, Gallagher was exceedingly impressed with how the Hawkeyes played.
“I liked how Iowa looked, they looked really focused,” Gallagher said. “They were sharp and aggressive at the plate. They were also able to score a lot of runs.”
With a tough matchup against Purdue on Friday and Saturday and then a game against Indiana on Sunday, Wisconsin will have to put together a series of complete games.
“Purdue is a very good hitting team. They have a really high team batting average. We’ve got to step up our defense and hope our pitcher’s ball movement is on and that they are up for the challenge,” Gallagher said. “We also need to score runs for our pitchers, we’ll need to move the runners and put people in scoring position.”
As the season progresses and the fight to be the top team in the Big Ten intensifies, the Badgers hope they can improve and string together enough solid performances to finish the season near the top of the standings.
“In terms of potential and capabilities, we are more than able to be one of the best teams in the Big Ten,” Gallagher said. “But you have to have a complete game at this level. And as soon as we put some complete games together, you’ll see a completely different team.”
