Though the weather was cold, the Badgers (1-7 Big Ten, 16-20 overall) collectively heated up as they defeated Valparaiso (8-24) in both games of their double header at Goodman Diamond.
“All preseason our hitting would be on, our pitching would be on, but our defense would be off,” said freshman third baseman Kelsey Jenkins. “So we hadn’t had all three key components of the game that were, you really need all three of them. Today I felt like we had all three.”
Wisconsin won its first game against the Crusaders 10-2. The Badgers had nine hits while only committing two errors, while the Crusaders tallied six hits and two errors. UW freshman pitcher Mariah Watts pitched the whole game and struck out two batters in five innings.
“I think they went very well,” Watts said about the Badgers offense and defense. “I mean sometimes one will be on and one will be off but I felt like both being on together was so helpful and it definitely took the stress off of pitching.”
At the top of the fourth inning, the Crusaders looked to lessen their run deficit with bases loaded, but the Badgers were able to get the last out before that could happen. Jenkins also made multiple defensive plays in the first game as many of the Crusaders hits came her way.
Wisconsin controlled the entire game and won in five innings by the run-ahead rule.
“You can only do so much in a game and you need to take control,” Watts said. “Once I saw the hitters doing their job then I just relaxed, and it was fun going out there.”
The Badgers defeated Valparaiso 11-2 in the second game. Junior pitcher Taylor-Paige Stewart held the Crusaders to two hits while striking out 11 batters, pitching all five innings of the game. Wisconsin had ten hits and committed no errors, while the Crusaders committed two errors.
“We’ve been working really hard as a team to put the ball in play every time, just getting runners on base,” said Jenkins. “It’s nice like not just one person is getting all the hits, we’re doing a team contribution.”
The Badgers again won in five innings by the run-ahead rule. Wisconsin looks to use this game as momentum as they head into their upcoming home games.
“Keep the swag going,” Watts said on using these games as momentum. “Swag it up like tonight.”
The Badgers will try to keep that swag going as they welcome the Iowa Hawkeyes to Madison for a three game series this weekend. The first game will take place at Goodman Diamond this Friday at 5:00 p.m.
