The Minnesota Gophers won Saturday’s pitchers’ duel against UW, but the Badgers struck back Sunday with a 12-inning victory.

UW’s Andrea Kirchberg and Minnesota’s Piper Marten both pitched one-hitters Saturday in the Gophers’ 1-0 victory.

Kirchberg held the Gophers hitless through five and a third innings and struck out four.

It was Minnesota’s Jordanne Nygren who sent a full-count pitch over the center field wall in the bottom of the sixth inning that broke up Kirchberg’s shutout and no-hitter. Nygren’s school-record 15th home run of the year gave Minnesota its 1-0 victory.

Meghann Reiss broke up Marten’s no-hitter for Minnesota with a two-out single in the top of the fifth. Reiss blasted a shot over Marten’s head and into shallow center field but did not come around to score.

UW would have its revenge Sunday, playing hard for its three seniors and refusing to end the season with a loss. The Badgers edged the Gophers 3-2, in a 12-inning marathon. Anastasia Miller had the day’s game-winning hit with a blast to the right center field wall that scored Meghann Reiss, who reached on a fielder’s choice earlier in the inning. Diana Consolmagno and Erin Barnharst also recorded hits in the inning.

It was the Badgers’ second longest game in school history and longest contest since playing 16 innings against Penn State on April 27, 1997.

The Badgers closed their 2003 season with a 19-26 overall record and 7-13 mark in the Big Ten conference. Sunday marked the final game for seniors Barnharst, Kirchberg and Mandy Liles.

The Badgers were able to get on the board early in the game with a lead off home run by Kris Zacher. The first inning home run was Zacher’s third of the season and gave UW a 1-0 lead.

Kirchberg dominated the Gophers from the pitcher’s mound, limiting Minnesota to just one hit through six and two-thirds innings. But Minnesota pulled even with two outs in the bottom of the seventh off Rachel Keeney’s home run. The Gophers took their first lead of the game in the top of the 10th off Anne Thul’s double to score Jordanne Nygren, but Meghann Reiss of the Badgers led off the top of the 10th with a single down the right field line and with two outs, Boo Gillette kept the Badgers alive with a hit to left field. Leftfielder Stefanie Watt made a good play on the ball but was too close to the wall, and both Watt and the ball fell to the field. Reiss scored from first to make the game 2-2.

Kirchberg tallied 12 strikeouts in her final home game at UW, ending her four-year career with a total of 1,156.

— compiled from staff reports