If patience is a virtue, than you can anoint the Wisconsin softball team saints — at least, in a softball sense.

The Badgers (14-13 overall, 1-3 Big Ten) have played each of their first 25 games so far this season on the road, believe it or not. This Sunday, at long last, UW head coach Chandelle Schulte's squad takes home field at Goodman Diamond for their home opener, where they will clash with longtime rival Minnesota in an all-important conference doubleheader.

After a poor showing to open the Big Ten season — Schulte called Wisconsin's start "disappointing" — the Badgers badly need to sweep the bottom-feeding Gophers on Sunday. Minnesota (11-18 overall, 0-4 Big Ten) has lost its last six games, including four consecutive losses to start conference play.

As if that weren't bad enough, the Gophers have had their share of heartbreakers thus far in the Big Ten. They lost both games to Michigan State in crushing fashion, opening the door for the Spartans to come back — not once, but twice. Against No. 13 Michigan, the Gophers fared even worse, managing only four hits in the two-game series while failing to score a run and getting "run-ruled" both games.

Sunday's doubleheader, which will begin at noon, represents a great opportunity for the Badgers to get back to .500 in the conference. In addition, Sunday represents the first chance students have to check out this year's squad at Goodman Diamond. While the excitement of checking out the $1.2 million facility to follow one of Wisconsin's only remaining active varsity teams is certainly there for the fans, the team is equally ready to kick off the home Big Ten schedule.

"I think it's exciting," said Schulte. "This is a great opportunity for us to play at home, for us to do what we can do, and I think [winning this coming weekend] really would change a lot of things for us."

Schulte knows best that the Badgers need a change, especially when it comes to results from the pitching staff. Against Northwestern and Illinois last weekend, the Badgers surrendered nine home runs and gave up 24 walks. Minimizing big flies and free passes are the keys to success, according to the Badger coaches.

"Our pitchers are working hard this week to hit their spots," said assistant coach Barbara Sherwood, adding that there would be new penalties assessed to pitchers who do not pitch with accuracy in practice. "I don't think that what happened this [past] weekend will be happening again."

"We're giving up way too many home runs," said Schulte. "We gave up [six] to Northwestern and three or four to Illinois, and you can't defend that. You can't defend walks and you can't defend home runs, so it's almost like we have to play perfectly everywhere else. And that's a lot of pressure on the 18- to 21-year-old kids."

Another key to the Border Battle matchup will be curtailing defensive mistakes. Coach Schulte has been adamant all season about not giving opponents extra outs, but the Badgers have had some trouble making plays this season. The right side of the infield has been particularly shaky for Wisconsin, having committed "probably 80 percent" of the team's errors this year, according to Schulte.

"Our mistakes [have been] pretty fundamental," said the first-year skipper. "We're not making good decisions, quick decisions. … When you get a ground ball, you have to make the out."

Offensively, the Badgers look to build on momentum gained from Wednesday's doubleheader against Loyola. Wisconsin scored 18 runs in winning the two games, highlighted by a double and a home run by sophomore right-fielder Katie Hnatyk, who leads the Badgers in both categories with five apiece.

Hnatyk, who grew up in Canada but played high school softball in Woodbury, Minn., is especially pumped for this weekend's affairs. Not only does she know a lot of the players on the Gopher squad — "it's a friendly rivalry," explained the sophomore star — but she has also experienced success against them. Last year, she clinched the Border Battle Cup for the Badgers in the last inning of play, hitting a two-out grand slam to crush the Gophers.

"I hope to do just as well as I did last year," said Hnatyk.

If finishing in the top half of the Big Ten is on the Badgers' to-do list, it looks like she will need to do exactly that.