When the Wisconsin softball team steps on the field at Goodman Diamond Wednesday to take on border rival Minnesota in a doubleheader, they will be taking on a rival that in many ways is a mirror image of themselves.
Wisconsin (2-6 Big Ten, 22-17 overall) is led by first-year head coach Yvette Healy, while Minnesota (3-5, 25-18) also has a first year head coach, Jessica Allister. Both coaches took over programs that had losing records in 2010 and have their programs on pace to finish with winning records this season.
""We're pretty evenly matched,"" Healy said. ""They're doing a good job. Obviously, they're ahead of us in the conference, but we can make a move if we can play well.""
Both the Badgers and Gophers have freshmen pitchers headlining their staffs who have far exceeded expectations to this point of the season.
Wisconsin has Cassandra Darrah, who is 12-6 with a 2.86 ERA this season, while Minnesota's Sara Moulton sports a 22-11 record and has won three Big Ten freshman of the week awards.
However, Darrah has not had much success on the mound against Big Ten opponents. Her record in Big Ten games is 0-4 with a 7.26 ERA. She also gave up a game-winning grand slam home run in Sunday's 6-3 loss to Indiana.
""She's doing a nice job. We're just working on seeing how we can call the best pitches for her at every count,"" Healy said.
One player who has stepped up her game in Big Ten competition is junior designated hitter Karla Powell, who is hitting for a .391 average and has three home runs in eight Big Ten games.
The Badgers currently lead the all-time series against Minnesota 15 to 14—a statistic that reflects how exciting the games in this series have been over the years.
Last season's game between the two clubs in Minnesota was an instant classic. Wisconsin forced extra innings with a run in the seventh to tie the game at four, and then the Badgers piled on five runs in the top of the tenth.
Unfortunately, the Gophers responded with six runs in the bottom of the frame to take a 10-9 victory in the only game between the two teams last season.
""We definitely had a pretty thrilling game against them last year, and this time we want to come out on top,"" sophomore outfielder Kendall Grimm said.
Wisconsin has not been an easy team to beat in Big Ten play this year, having a run differential of negative 11 in the first eight Big Ten games.
The Badgers gave second-place Indiana a run for its money this past weekend, forcing extra innings in Saturday's game and coming within three outs of a victory on Sunday. But with only a 2-6 conference record, Wisconsin is trying to find a way to translate how well it's competed with other Big Ten teams into more conference wins.
""We just need to pull through as a team in the clutch situations to actually come out with some victories,"" Grimm said.
Due to inclement weather conditions, the first pitch of Wednesday's doubleheader with Minnesota has been moved up an hour, The new start time will be 3 p.m.
