Starting tonight the University of Wisconsin softball team has the biggest weekend series of its season thus far, when the Indiana University Hoosiers visit Goodman Diamond for a pair of games. The Badgers, 3-5 in the Big Ten and 23-19 overall, need a strong showing this weekend against the Hoosiers and the Purdue Boilermakers, who visit for a double-header on Sunday, to turn the corner in the Big Ten schedule and give the team momentum to finish out the season strong.
With all four games taking place at home for Wisconsin, if the Badgers are going to start a late season run, the time is now.
Indiana limps into Mad-Town in the midst of a five game losing streak and is the current doormat of the Big Ten with an 0-6 conference record. The Hoosiers, however, are not to be taken too lightly as they are 23-23 overall and have some serious bats in their line-up.
Indiana is led by senior first baseman Karly McCormack and sophomore catcher Tory Yamaguchi. McCormack is hitting a team high .323 this season and is the team leader in RBI (21) and runs (20). Yamaguchi is not far behind McCormack with a .321 batting average and a team leading seven homeruns, good for third in the Big Ten. Yamaguchi is considered by many to be one of the best young players in the conference.
The Hoosiers as a team have hit the second most homeruns in the conference with 25, behind only the University of Michigan, which has 30. The Hoosiers bats have been quieted as of late however, as the Hoosiers are only hitting .185 as a team in Big Ten play.
The Hoosiers pitching has remained solid. Indiana’s pitchers have a combined ERA of just 1.91. Indiana’s ace is sophomore Mariangee Bogado who is 12-13 with just a 1.36 ERA and has been plagued by poor run support for much of the season. Sophomore Megan Roark also logs a lot of time on the mound for the Hoosiers; she is 8-6 on the seasons with a 1.56 ERA.
If Wisconsin is to extend the Hoosiers losing streak Wisconsin must get continued strong play from junior shortstop and Big Ten Player of the Week, Kris Zacher, who had two walk off RBI’s last week against Loyola University-Chicago, and hit .500 for the week in the teams seven games. Zacher leads the Badgers with a .368 average and is also the team leader in homeruns (4), runs (32) and walks (14). Zacher is also second on the team with 27 RBI’s.
The Badgers will also need junior catcher and team RBI leader Boo Gillette to have a strong weekend to help the Badgers get to .500 on the conference season. Gillette is hitting .354 with 29 RBI’s and a team leading 14 doubles this season.
Badger pitchers Katie Layne, Eden Brock and Sara Gonzales all must be on their game to keep the Hoosiers off the boards. Layne, a junior with a record of 11-9 and a 2.95 ERA, comes in pitching as well as she ever has all season and will probably see the bulk of the work this weekend. Freshman Brock is also hot coming into the weekend’s games and will probably see a lot of time on the mound herself as she attempts to improve upon her team-low 1.68 ERA and a 10-7 record against the Hoosiers.
Wisconsin has been winning all season due to strong defense and great team play. Clutch hitting and timely individual performances have defined the Badger’s season so far; the team will need to continue to come together for a successful weekend.
Friday’s game against Indiana has been moved to a 6 p.m. starting time and Saturday’s game is scheduled for noon. The Purdue double-header Sunday is scheduled to begin at noon with the second game starting tentatively at 2:30 p.m.
