INSIDE SOFTBALL BY ANNA POULTER-HENDRICKSON @BadgerSoftball SCHEDULE
Last Five April 6 Minnesota April 7 Minnesota April 7 Minnesota
This Weekend Saturday at Illinois (DH) Sunday at Illinois
Next Five April 21 Penn State (DH) April 22 Penn State April 25 Indiana State April 28 at Purdue (DH) April 28 at Purdue (DH)
W, 3-0 W, 5-1
April 10 Western Illinois W, 12-11 (9) April 10 Western Illinois
W, 11-10 W, 7-1
4/6 p.m. 1 p.m.
12/2 p.m. 12 p.m. 3/5 p.m. 12/2 p.m. 12 p.m.
ings and proved its tenacity with the biggest come-from-behind win in school history in a 11-10 victory over Minnesota last Saturday.
Badgers race to top with
eight straight wins Now is the time for UW to prove its worth
tablished a routine pattern of play through the first 26 games of the season. Wisconsin was 14-12 after losing a Big Ten Conference game to Northwestern on April 1 and had dropped six spots, to 83rd, in the RPI. The Badgers were starting
A 46 » VARSITY APRIL 12, 2012
win, a loss, a win, a loss — the Badgers had es-
to look like just an average softball team. But one week changed ev- erything. Eight games and four comeback victories later, the Badgers are on a school record-tying eight- game win streak and have jumped out to a 22-12 re- cord. Wisconsin moved to 58th in the latest RPI rank-
Now Wisconsin is set with the task to prove that it belongs at the top. A road trip to Illinois this weekend gives UW an opportunity to make an- other statement in the Big Ten. The Badgers can't slow down now. With 20 games remaining in the regular season, now is the time top teams separate themselves in the Big Ten.
Numbers don't lie » In its last eight wins, UW has out- scored (54-28),
out-hit (77-53)
and out-pitched (2.41-6.13 ERA) its opponents. In fact, the Badgers are outplaying opponents in al- most every category. Twenty-five of UW's 77 hits have been for extra bases and the Badgers are batting .342 as a team. UW has struck out less and walked more on its way to victory.
