The Wisconsin softball team will return home to play a back-to-back nonconference doubleheader against the North Dakota Fighting Sioux Wednesday.
Wisconsin and North Dakota appear to be a competitive matchup, as the Badgers (14-27 overall) and Sioux (12-30) have found similar results this year. North Dakota comes in having won it's last contest, while the Badgers lost last time they took the field.
Prior to their last win, North Dakota fell to the University of South Dakota Coyotes 3-4 and 6-8. The Badgers have a common-opponent advantage over North Dakota here, as Wisconsin beat South Dakota 5-1 and 10-2 last week.
The Fighting Sioux remain number two in the Great West conference standings, while the Badgers sit near the bottom of the Big Ten, ahead of only Minnesota in the standings.
North Dakota's Casie Hanson leads the Great West conference in batting average with a .435. Hanson also leads their conference in on base percentage, runs scored, hits, triples and total bases.
In contrast, Wisconsin's freshman infielder Molly Spence, although unranked in the conference, leads the Badgers with a .375 batting average. Wisconsin's only conference leaders in batting include freshman utility Whitney Massey, who stands third in the Big Ten conference for triples, and Spence right behind her in fourth.
Freshman infielder Whitney Massey has compiled an impressive first season in Madison, as she has set the school record for triples. Her .379 on base percentage ranks third-best in freshman history at UW.
As for pitching, senior Letty Olivarez stands sixth in the conference in strikeouts with 146. However, Olivarez also leads theBig Ten in losses so far this season.
Wisconsin enters into the matchup against North Dakota after a tough weekend against the University of Illinois Fighting Illini. The Badgers were shut out 6-0 by the Fighting Illini on Saturday, with junior outfielder Jennifer Krueger managing the team's only hit. Junior outfielder Ashley Hanewich and Krueger both to reach base by drawing walks off Illinois' pitching, and freshman infielder Shannel Blackshear reached twice after being hit by pitches, but the Badgers could not squeeze any runs out of the base runners.
Freshman relief pitcher Meghan McIntosh pitched a strong game, not allowing any more runs after her entrance in the second inning.
The game, scheduled for Sunday afternoon against Illinois, was canceled due to rain.
The Badgers will have to combine a strong offense and tough defense together in order to find success this weekend against the Fighting Sioux.
Success in nonconference play will without question bring much needed confidence back to the team as it prepares for the final stretch of conference matchups. Home field advantage can also play a large role for Wisconsin, especially since they will play six of their final eleven games at home.
With only ten games remaining in the season for the Badgers, nine of them conference games, Wisconsin needs to play solid, fundamental softball against North Dakota in preparation for the upcoming Big Ten matchups. Wisconsin hits the road again on Thursday to play Notre Dame in South Bend, Indiana before ending the season with successive conference game.
The Badgers still have plenty of challenging matchups remaining on their schedule. Included on the list of remaining opponents are the top-ranked Michigan Wolverines, the No. 3 Fighting Illini of Illinois, the No. 5 Northwestern Wildcats, the No. 9 Indiana Hoosiers and the No. 12 Golden Gophers of Minnesota.
