Despite some bright spots, Wisconsin’s weekend in the Arizona State tournament ultimately bore little fruit in the desert. Hoping to get the season off to a positive start, the Badgers’ record is now a losing 1-4.
The Badgers struggled offensively against Cal State Northridge in their first game Friday, as they only got two hits in the game. The bright spot of the game was sophomore Chloe Miller who got the only two hits for the team. Wisconsin trailed early in the game by giving up runs in the second and third innings. They tied the game up in the sixth inning by scoring their only three runs of the game. Cal State Northridge came right back in the bottom of the sixth inning and scored the winning run in a game that finished with a score of 4-3 and a Badger loss.
The Badgers offense came out on fire in the second game against Utah Valley. They scored four runs in the first two innings. Pitching was the problem for the team in this game, with freshman Annie Davis giving up six runs in six innings pitched. The offense then stalled as Wisconsin only scored one run after the second inning. The Badgers were defeated 9-5 in their second loss of the weekend.
The only win of the weekend for the Badgers came against Virginia Saturday. The offense and the pitching came together to get the first win of the season. The best offensive performance came from senior Maria Van Abel who got a hit every time she went up to the plate. She was also able to score two of the five runs the Badgers had. Annie Davis got her first win in college by pitching a shutout and only giving up four hits, leading to a final score of 5-0.
Sitting at 1-2 and wanting to avoid a guaranteed losing record, the Badgers took on Oregon State. This was another game where the offense struggled to produce anything. Wisconsin only produced four hits in the game and were unable to produce any runs. The pitching fared slightly better as junior Taylor-Paige Stewart gave up five runs through six innings. The game started out slowly with neither team scoring in the first three innings, but Oregon State manufactured three runs in the fourth inning to break things open. The Badgers received another loss in a 5-0 shutout.
The Badgers faced their toughest competition of the tournament Sunday against No. 2 Oregon. Wisconsin had the early lead when freshman Brianna Flugaur scored in the third inning. The lead did not last long as the Ducks scored two runs in the bottom of the third inning, and kept on hitting after taking the lead. Oregon ended the game by scoring five runs in the fifth inning to take a 10-2 advantage.
Wisconsin will be back in action in the Texas A&M Corpus Christi tournament Thursday Feb. 12.
UWBadgers.com contributed to this report.
