After witnessing her softball team’s fourth loss of the weekend, it was obvious that head coach Karen Gallagher was not sure what to tell her team after the game. As her players sat waiting in the outfield after the game to talk to their coach, Gallagher assembled her assistant coaches to discuss the game for about 15 minutes.
Senior centerfielder Erin Barharst said her coach did not have much to say when she finally approached the team.
“It seems like every game it is the same talk she has to give us. We know she is hurting inside after a loss like that, and we’re hurting inside, and all we have to do is stick together as a team. She was saying if we stick together it is going to come around. It’s hard right now, and we don’t want to give up.”
The Badgers (13-20 overall, 2-8 Big Ten) suffered through a frustrating weekend as the team lost to Michigan 3-2 Friday and 5-9 Saturday and then went on to be swept by Michigan State 4-0 and 4-1 Sunday afternoon.
The two losses Sunday, however, may have stung the most, as the Badgers had excellent chances to win both games.
In the first of the two games, the Badgers and Spartans played six scoreless innings before reaching the seventh and final inning. It was then that MSU went off to score four runs, and UW was not able to counter the offensive firepower in its half of the inning.
After a brief break, the two teams were back at it again, but this time the Badgers jumped out with an early lead in the second inning.
Freshman Emily Friedman started out the inning, taking a base after being hit in the ankle by a pitch. Next up for the Badgers was junior left fielder Diana Consolmagnom, who hit a smooth line drive into shallow left field past MSU’s second baseman to advance Friedman to second base.
Two batters later, Barnharst strolled up to the plate and hit a hard line drive past MSU’s third baseman into left field. Her hit scored Friedman to put the Badgers on the scoreboard. A strikeout by sophomore Natalie Phillips ended the inning, stranding two runners.
The lead was short-lived, however, as the Spartans stormed back to take the lead in the bottom of the third inning. After starting the inning with two strikeouts, Margaret Schick faked a bunt to bring third baseman Boo Gillette in toward the plate and on the next pitch hit a blooper over her head. Two pitches later, Schick was able to steal second base. The next batter, Brittney Green, cracked a hit past shortstop Kris Zacker to score Schick.
The bad news was still to come for the Badgers, as MSU’s ace pitcher Jessica Beech arrived at the plate. The hurler took a huge swing and blasted a two-run homer measured at 220 feet.
“That game right there was 1-0, and then they scored, and that girl got a home run, and we were down 3-1 already with just the one hit,” Barnharst said.
UW was able to get three more hits the rest of the game but never brought the runners home.
“It is always frustrating to have those runners there and so close,” Barnharst said. “It is always frustrating, especially when you get your runners on, you want to get them in.”
MSU notched one more run in the bottom of the seventh inning to win the game by a final score of 4-1.
In the team’s first two-game series against No. 13 Michigan this weekend, the team was unable to find an answer for the Wolverines’ powerful hitting. While the wins helped Michigan stay close to Iowa at the top of the Big Ten standings, the wins also marked the 800th career win for Michigan head coach Carol Hutchins. For UW, the losses put a damper on its postseason outlook.
In the first game, the Wolverines scored quickly, taking a 1-0 lead in the top of the second inning off senior pitcher Marissa Young’s home run.
In the fourth inning, Michigan looked poised to score again. The Badgers’ defense clamped down, however, forcing an out at home plate, ending the inning. While the Badgers held Michigan to one run through the top of the sixth inning, UW was unable to score or even get a hit off Young. Young pitched a complete game shutout for the Wolverines, recording 10 strikeouts and allowing only one hit.
Michigan scored its last two runs of the game in the sixth inning. The first came courtesy of senior left fielder Melinda Moulden, and the second was the result of senior Lisa Mack’s single to right field, which scored junior Amy Prichard.
Wisconsin’s lone hit of the evening came in the bottom of the sixth, when senior right fielder Mandy Liles singled to right field.
The Badgers were able to keep the score close throughout most of the game Saturday; however, UW didn’t quite have enough to take advantage of scoring opportunities. In the top of the sixth inning, first baseman Meghann Reiss and catcher Boo Gillette were on base with only one out, but the Badgers failed to score.
Michigan scored first in the game, taking a two-run lead in the bottom of the third, on home runs from Moulden and Young.
The power showed by Michigan’s hitters wasn’t a surprise for the Badgers, who knew entering the games that the Wolverines’ hitting had to be contained if they hoped to come out with a win.
According to Barnharst, the Badgers had vowed before the second game to hustle and step up their defense in order to prevent easy runs.
“We wanted to get to everything, not to let anything drop, to be tough, throw runners out. We never got a chance to do that, but we were ready for it,” Barnharst said.
The Badgers began to battle back from the 2-0 deficit, scoring a run in the top of the fourth inning. The run was produced when Reiss singled into center field. Anastasia Miller, who was put in to pinch-run for Reiss, was then able to score from second base off of a hit by Barnharst into left field.
Miller’s score resulted in the final run the Badgers would score in the game; however, the Badgers had one more good chance to challenge Michigan’s lead in the top of the sixth. After Liles opened the sixth inning with a pop-up to third, Reiss was able to capitalize on a Michigan error, getting to first base. Gillette followed with a single to right field. With two Badgers on base and only one out, the Michigan coaching staff made a switch, putting in Young, who had shut down UW’s offense the night before.
“She [Young] just had the upper hand on us, you know coming in last night and dominating us, so she could come in today and do the same,” Barnharst said.
Like the night before, Young was efficient; the next two Badgers to bat both hit pop-ups, ending the inning and the game.
While Young may have had a slight psychological edge over the Badgers, Barnharst said a hit could have easily broken that advantage.
“It’s what would have decided the way the game went … if we would have gotten that hit (and) we would have had the rest of the game, I think we could have won the game,” Barnharst said.