On a beautiful April Wednesday, against the backdrop of Lake Mendota, the Badgers and their loyal fans in attendance at Goodman Complex witnessed history — almost. Standout freshman pitcher Eden Brock fell just short of pitching the first perfect game of her young career when a dribbler in the top of the sixth inning bounced past both Athena Vasquez and Kris Zacher’s gloves for Loyola’s first hit of the game.

Brock was the definition of efficiency in the game. Retiring her first 16 batters, she reached a full count in the game only once, and her highest pitch count in one inning was 14. It seemed as if all her pitches were working for her.

“Things were working very well for me today,” said Brock of her pitching. “The dropball, curveball, changeup, everything.”

The Loyola hitters had trouble figuring out the young Wisconsin pitcher early in the game. They fell behind in the counts, hit easy fly balls and struck out twice. Brock seemed to lose a step in the fourth, though. The Ramblers hit several sharp drives that shortstop Zacher scooped up for outs. But Brock never lost confidence.

“From the third inning I knew about it,” said Brock of the possible no-hitter. “You try to not think about it because then you jinx yourself, but it wasn’t a distraction.”

As for run support, the Badger hitters did their part. Diana Consolmagno singled in the second inning to score Kaitlin Reiss for the first run of the game. In the fifth, the Badgers struck again with six runs, five of them coming with two outs. That was more than enough for the steady Brock.

“There was no worry,” she said. “After we get two runs I’m good to go.”

And so it was with a seven-run lead Brock took the mound in the top of the sixth, prepared to take her perfect game bid to the bitter end. It was looking good when Loyola designated-player Raven Gengler grounded to Zacher at short, Zacher’s sixth putout in the previous seven batters. Brock took the next hitter, leftfielder Sarah Lamkin, to a one-and-two count, but Lamkin hit the next pitch past the outstretched gloves of Vasquez and Zacher and into left field. Brock’s perfect game was not to be.

“It was a good game,” Brock said. “Our team played awesome, and they got of lot of hits, so it’s not devastating. You want the perfect game, but it’s not a big deal.”

The Badgers went on to win the game in the bottom of the sixth inning by the eight-run mercy rule when Kris Zacher took a pitch over the left centerfield wall. In the second game of the doubleheader the Badgers finished the sweep with a 2-1 victory after Sam Polito scored the game-winning run in the bottom of the seventh inning.

But the story of the day was Brock’s near-perfect game. In the end she had to “settle” for a complete game shutout, but that doesn’t really bother Brock.

“The less the hits the better,” Brock said. “No matter how many they get, the less they have the better.”