The Wisconsin softball team is hoping to take advantage of a struggling UW-Green Bay team while adding a pair of wins to its resume when the Badgers face the Phoenix in Madison Wednesday.
Despite sitting at the bottom half of their conference, the Phoenix (7-13 Horizon League, 20-21 overall), are coming off one of their best stretches of the season.
UW-Green Bay closed out an eight-game homestand Sunday, where it went 5-3, with a 10-5 loss against first place Valparaiso.
The Badgers (6-10 Big Ten, 26-21 overall) are also coming off a weekend series with one of the frontrunners in their conference.
Over the weekend, No. 2 Michigan came into Madison and swept the Badgers. Erase two costly innings in the field for the Badgers, however, and the outcome of the series could have easily given UW the wins.
Despite suffering the sweep, sophomore third baseman Shannel Blackshear believes her team's competitive play with Michigan has boosted the team's confidence.
""We're just looking to keep the momentum going,"" Blackshear said. ""We might've lost, but it was nice to see that we could stick with the No. 2 team in the nation. It really helped our confidence a lot.""
Although UW-Green Bay may not be the most statistically threatening team the Badgers have faced this season, coming up with wins against the in-state rivals will be no easy task, according to UW head coach Yvette Healy:
""This will be a big test of how focused they are,"" Healy said. ""We were talking to them [Tuesday] about how these are the two biggest games of the year.""
The Badgers split the twin bill with the Phoenix in last season's meeting in Green Bay. The Phoenix edged Wisconsin in a 12-11 slugfest in game one, before the Badgers topped Green Bay, 13-4 in game two.
In Wisconsin's last four meetings with UW-Green Bay, the Badgers' offense was explosive. In those games, Wisconsin's bats erupted and drove in 35 runs. Senior center fielder Jennifer Krueger expects tomorrow's games to be no different.
""Our hitters have been pretty hot lately,"" she said. ""Hopefully we can keep it up.""
Krueger is one of the hottest-hitting Badgers. On Monday, Krueger was named Big Ten Player of the Week after going 7-11 over a four game stretch last week. She also scored the Badgers' only two runs in the Michigan series.
""I was pretty excited about it,"" Krueger said. ""I didn't really know it was coming. I've been trying to win it my whole career, so it's a big accomplish.""
Krueger is the first Badger to be named Big Ten Player of the Week since Samantha Polito received the honor in 2007.
Healy said she's excited for Krueger and is still hoping for more Badgers to be recognized later this season.
""We've been talking to the players all year about having really elite weeks and lighting it up,"" Healy said. ""Seeing her do that is great and I hope it starts some momentum. Maybe we can get a couple more before the year ends.""
First pitch is set for 3 p.m. Wednesday at Goodman Diamond with the second game beginning approximately 20 minutes after game one ends.
