Wisconsin (8-6-1 Big Ten, 23-18-1 overall) dropped a back-and-forth game against Illinois, 4-3 Friday afternoon at Goodman Diamond.
“Illinois is very good. That’s why they’re a top 50 team, they’ve got their 26 wins already and we gave them the 27th, they’re a team that you really just have to be a little bit sharper with,” head coach Yvette Healy said. “Overall, there was a ton of heart and battle so what I love is even if we made a couple of mistakes that we could get better, then our team bounces right back … we’re not a team that usually dwells on what we’ve could’ve done better, it’s just about carrying on and I love the fight.”
Illinois (6-9, 27-18) took the early lead in the first after a walk and RBI single by Annie Fleming.
UW started the bottom of the first with back-to-back hits by sophomore third baseman Kelsey Jenkins and senior shortstop Ashley Van Zeeland. With junior right fielder Chloe Miller at the plate, Jenkins stole third and then scored to tie the game at one after Illinois catcher Emily Brodner’s wild throw went into left field.
In the third, Wisconsin loaded the bases on three walks. Freshman catcher Melanie Cross scored Van Zeeland after slapping a one-out RBI groundout to first base that gave UW a 2-1 lead.
The Fighting Illini copied the Badgers and loaded the bases in the top of the fourth inning. A sacrifice fly by Kylie Johnson tied the game at two.
After back-to-back hits put runners on the corners for Illinois in the fifth inning, Fleming hit a routine groundball to second baseman Macy Oswald, who bobbled it for an error and gave Illinois the 3-2 lead. The Badgers used good damage control to get out of the inning only giving up the one run.
UW tied the game in the sixth inning, but a baserunning mistake would prove to be costly.
Kelly Welsh led the inning off with a single. Katie Christner followed with a double. However, after a wild throw, Welsh got caught in a rundown between third and home, and was tagged out. Oswald then followed with an RBI double to score Christner and tie the game at three.
Illinois again got the leadoff runner on base after a single. A passed ball by Cross followed by a groundout put the runner at third with one out in the seventh inning. Again it was Fleming who came through for the Fighting Illini, hitting an RBI single to score the go-ahead run and give them a 4-3 lead.
Wisconsin rallied to get the tying run as far as third base with two outs in the seventh, but could not get the tying run to score.
Fleming finished the game for Illinois going 2 for 4 with two RBIs and was on base three times.
Senior pitcher Taylor-Paige Stewart (L, 7.0 innings, nine hits, four runs [three earned], two walks and four strikeouts) tossed her 10th complete game on the season, but was in and out of trouble for most of the game.
“I thought [Stewart] threw a good game and she’s been throwing great and I think we’re going to need to be good-plus tomorrow, just even a little above good to beat this team, but I think we’ve got the ability to do it,” Healy said. “I knew Illinois was going to be tough but when you see them and you have to face them, they just have a tremendous offense, they battle and they hit the ball. We tried to contain them and we kept it close and made it exciting at the end.”
“It’s one game at a time,” Healy continued. “We’ve got to get that game tomorrow, our hitters are going to have to make an adjustment and be ready to hit their pitching right away and I think if we can make small adjustments, we can have a really good payoff.”
Game two of the series at Goodman Diamond begins Saturday at 1 p.m.
