It took an injury to a player to spur it, but the University of Wisconsin softball team salvaged the second game of a doubleheader to split its home opener against North Dakota.
The Badgers (10-20) dropped the first game of the day 4-2 to the Fighting Sioux (3-20), who broke a nine-game losing streak. Despite coming back to take the second game 5-3, UW head coach Chandelle Schulte was unhappy with her team’s performance.
“Overall, it was a failing attempt today I think, even though we won,” Schulte said.
Sloppy defense in the first game translated to one big inning for North Dakota, which proved to be enough for a Sioux win. In the late game, Wisconsin trailed 2-1 in the fourth inning when center fielder Jen Krueger was hit with a pitch trying to bunt. Krueger took a pitch to the hand, though it initially looked as though she got hit in the head. X-rays were negative, and Schulte pointed to the injury as a rallying point for the Badgers.
“It spurred them on. We just had that conversation — they rallied around her and they protected her, but you can’t wait for those [instances],” Schulte said. “We’ve only got 13 kids, so if we’re gonna wait for an injury, we’re in trouble.”
A big part of Schulte’s disappointment was the Badgers’ disastrous top of the sixth inning in the first game. North Dakota’s Erica Younan reached base on an error by Livi Abney and quickly reached third after a single by Abbey Rehberger and a passed ball in the next at bat. Kindra Bennett’s bloop single to left gave the Fighting Sioux a 1-0 lead. North Dakota would add three more runs before Wisconsin could escape the inning. Sloppy play in the field meant three of the four runs were unearned, and pitcher Letty Olivarez finished with one earned run off of four hits with eight strikeouts. The Badgers would get two runs on an Ashley Hanewich double in the bottom of the seventh, but it was too little, too late.
The second game was much cleaner for UW, which went ahead 1-0 in the first inning. Marring that early lead was the fact that the Badgers had the bases loaded with no outs but only got one run. Krueger left early from third, which is an automatic out, an untimely mental error to go with the four physical errors the team made in the series. Karla Powell followed by striking out looking before Olivarez hit an RBI single to left. Though pitcher Leah Vanevenhoven held North Dakota to three runs for the game, Schulte expected more from her pitchers.
“Not good. They’re capable of much, much more. And they know it,” Schulte said. “My hat’s off to North Dakota; they hung in there and they fought us, but on paper it was a great matchup for us. It was one that we should contain them to less than one run. We got behind in some counts and we walked too many batters.”
As much of a problem as pitching was, it was the Badger’s offense that struggled the most. North Dakota entered the series with a 7.76 team ERA, though Wisconsin only got seven runs off of 14 hits in the two games.
A positive for UW was infielder Karla Powell’s performance at third base in the second game. Third base is the Badgers’ weakest position as they struggle to find consistency and someone who can make routine plays. Powell was solid at third, though she’s spent the last few games as the designated hitter.
“I’ve been playing it in practice, so I just had to get used to it,” Powell said.
Alhough Powell provided a steady presence at third for one game, Schulte is still using a pencil when writing her defensive lineup.
“I have no idea [if Powell will stay at third.] I know this: She works her butt off, and she provides energy, and we need that,” Schulte said. “She’ll be out there if she does her job and people play behind her because that’s what we need.”
Despite Schulte’s overall disappointment with UW’s play, Powell found a bright spot in coming back to win the second game.
“I think it was really big, just kinda [to] boost our confidence,” Powell said. “Kinda to know that we can get behind and come up and get the win, and just work together … and provide energy off of each other.”
