The Wisconsin softball team faced the Hawkeyes in a double header Wednesday and fell to the Hawkeyes in both games, 1-0 and 14-1.
Senior pitcher Letty Olivarez began the first game strong with six straight strike outs, but Iowa soon got to Olivarez, as hit-by-pitch, stolen base and a single set them up for a run. Another Iowa single allowed the Hawkeyes to cross the plate, making the score 1-0.
Olivarez pitched a strong game throughout, striking out 10 batters total, a season high for her, and only allowing two hits.
Freshman infielder Molly Spence, who leads the team in batting average, said the game was frustrating.
""Letty pitched literally one of her best games. She threw amazing. She was on all day. But as an offense, we just couldn't help her out,"" she said. ""That's disappointing, because when she's pitching such a great game, we want to be able to help her out.""
However, Olivarez did not leave the blame on her teammates.
""I put a lot on myself,"" Olivarez said. ""If I wouldn't have given up that one run, we may have had more innings. It's a tough situation, but it's frustrating for everyone,"" she said.
The Badgers defense was spot-on as a whole, with four innings of three-up, three-down play, but the hits just were not there for Wisconsin. Freshman infielder Shannel Blackshear and junior outfielder Ashley Hanewich contributed the only two hits for the Badgers, but neither produced a run, and the game ended in a 1-0 loss.
The second game against the Hawkeyes went even worse for UW, with Iowa decimating Wisconsin 14-1.
The Hawkeyes racked up the hits early. The first three batters hit the gaps to crank out two singles and a double. Iowa scored twice to make the score 2-0 after the first inning.
After a three-up, three-down inning from Wisconsin, the Hawkeyes again battled back, adding three more runs to the scoreboard. The bottom of the second inning brought an opportunity for the Badgers to score, with singles from sophomore infielder Karla Powell and freshman outfielder Kendall Grimm, but nothing came of the opportunity.
The Hawkeyes had a long fourth inning, producing nine runs against the Badgers and increasing their lead to 14. After both freshman Meghan McIntosh and junior Kristyn Hansen struggled through about an inning each, Olivarez returned to the mound to finish the game up for the Badgers.
Wisconsin attempted to battle back against Iowa in the bottom of fifth, when singles from senior Katie Soderberg and freshman Whitney Massey drove in a run, but it was far too little too late.
""Hitting is contagious. Once one person starts hitting, the whole team catches on. We just needed one person to spark it in the beginning, and it just didn't happen,"" said Spence about why the team could not pull out a run sooner.
Although Wisconsin remains 0-8 in Big Ten play, the Badgers said they will stay positive and stick together as a team.
""We all have the fight in us. Sometimes it doesn't come out, but we all have that mentality. We want to win games,"" Spence said.
The Badgers will take on Purdue in pursuit of their first conference win this weekend in another Big Ten matchup.
