The Wisconsin softball team (7-14) won two-of-three games this past weekend against a group of teams from Illinois at the Coach B Classic at the University of Southern Illinois-Carbondale.
Wisconsin won its first game of tournament play Saturday, beating the Western Illinois Westerwinds (4-9), before dropping its second game of the day to the host Salukis of Southern Illinois-Carbondale. The Badgers prevailed in their final game of the tournament Sunday morning against Southern Illinois-Edwardsville.
Wisconsin's fourth and final game of the tourney, a rematch with the Salukis, was cancelled in light of bad weather.
The Badgers managed to calm the Westerwinds in game one on Saturday. Western Illinois took a 2-0 lead in the fourth inning, but Wisconsin's offense stepped up to the plate and responded with an offensive surge. Freshman Karla Powell and sophomore Ashley Hanewich, along with seniors Alexis Garcia and Leah Vanevenhoven all recorded hits and carried the offense, leading Big Red to a big 4-2 victory, thus ending Wisconsin's six-game losing streak.
Wisconsin looked to build on its victory later Saturday against No. 18 Southern Illinois-Carbondale (15-3). But the Salukis jumped out to an early 2-0 lead in the first inning and never relinquished. Despite a stellar offensive performance from sophomore Jennifer Krueger, who accounted for three of the Badgers' four hits, Wisconsin could not produce any runs, and Southern Illinois-Carbondale won, 3-0.
The Badgers closed tournament play against Southern Illinois-Edwardsville (13-5) in a high-scoring affair, topped off with an ejection. Cougars head coach Sandy Montgomery was tossed in the first inning for arguing with the umpires after her starting pitcher was called for six illegal pitches, ending in a Cougar pitching change.
Amid the chaos, Wisconsin jumped out to a 2-0 lead. Southern Illinois-Edwardsville took the lead in the second inning, scoring four runs. But Wisconsin returned the favor, scoring runs in the fourth and fifth innings to regain the lead, 5-4.
The Cougars managed to tie the game, sending it to extra innings, where a runner is placed at second base at the beginning of each half inning. In the longest game of the season for Wisconsin, the Badgers scored in the eighth and ninth innings to win, 8-7. Seven different Badgers recorded hits. Sophomore Livi Abney led the charge with four RBIs on two hits.
The team now prepares for its final tournament before conference play begins. Softball heads to the Aloha State this week for a sextet of games in the Chevron Spring Fling tournament at the University of Hawaii at Manoa. Wisconsin will play teams from both sides of the country. The Badgers will face Utah, Cal Berkeley and the host Hawaii from the West Coast, as well as St. John's, Radford and Memphis from out east.
The tournament in Hawaii will present a challenge for the Badgers as they play their final games before conference play commences. Four of Wisconsin's six opponents bring winning records in 2009 to Hawaii. And Hawaii's Rainbow Wahine, one of Wisconsin's opponents with a sub-.500 record, recently defeated the Beavers of Oregon State, a team that beat the Badgers earlier this year.
The Badgers face a rigorous tournament schedule. The tournament runs Wednesday to Saturday, March 11-14. Wisconsin begins play Wednesday with a night game against the St. John's Red Storm. Thursday brings two games for the Badgers, including matches with the Cal Berkeley Bears and the Hawaii Wahine. On Friday, Big Red has two more games against, the Utah Utes and the Radford Highlanders. The Badgers close out tournament play on Saturday with a game against the Memphis Tigers.
The following weekend, March 21-22, Wisconsin will open up conference play against the Boilermakers of Purdue in West Lafayette, Ind.
—uwbadgers.com contributed to this report.
