Softball Splits Final Home Series
May 01, 2003 | Softball
The Wisconsin softball team split its final two home games of the 2003 season Thursday, defeating UW-Green Bay, 7-3, and falling to the Phoenix, 4-3, in the nightcap. The Badgers move to 18-25 overall and travel to Minnesota this weekend to close out the regular season.
UW opened the day's doubleheader versus UWGB with a three-run lead in the second inning of game one. With one out, Anastasia Miller continued her power-hitting streak with a two-run blast to give the Badgers a 2-0 lead. Entering the day, Miller had three hits: a double and two home runs.
Natalie Phillips followed Miller's third shot of the year with a single to left field. Phillips moved to second on a wild pitch and with two outs, Gillette nailed a pitch down the third base line. Phillips scored to make it 3-0.
The Badgers extended their lead in the third and fourth innings. Emily Friedman walked to start off the third and looked to steal second. UWGB's shortstop moved to pickoff Friedman and was inline for the tag, but mishandled the ball allowing Friedman to take second. With two outs, Miller was apart of the action again. With Miller on first and Friedman on third, Miller stole second. The catcher's throw took a bad bounce and the ball dribbled into center field allowing Friedman to score the winning run.
In the fourth, the Badgers faced relief pitcher Lisa Meissner and with one out in the inning, Boo Gillette blasted her second career triple into right center field. Kris Zacher followed with a RBI-single to center field.
Pitching a perfect game through four innings, Andrea Kirchberg retired 13 straight batters including the first hitter of the fifth inning. UWGB answered with back-to-back singles, a walk and another single in the fifth to cut Bucky's lead in half. After getting out of the fifth, Kirchberg responded with six straight outs to end the game. Kirchberg stuck out seven in her final appearance at Goodman Diamond as a Badger.
Friedman, who scored twice in game one, accounted for the seventh and final Badger score. Friedman almost didn't get a chance to put that tally on the board when UWGB 2B Jenny Pingel scooped up an Erin Barnharst hit. Pingel threw to shortstop Alyssa Rostkowski who was heading for second base, but the umpire ruled Rostkowski didn 't touch the bag. Friedman was ruled safe and later scored on a Meghann Reiss single.
Reiss was 2-for-4 with two RBIs, while Miller also tallied two RBIs in game one. Zacher notched two hits to increase her team-high two-hit game tally to nine. Gillette was 3-for-3, marking her team-best fourth three-hit game of the year. Zacher and Gillette share the team-lead with 10 multi-hit games.
In game two, Gillette pulled the Badgers within one with two outs in the bottom of the seventh. Gillette sent a blast to the deep part of the park, recording her fourth home run of the year. The two-run shot scored Meghann Reiss and set the final score of game two at 4-3. Gillette's home run was the Badgers' 22nd as a team this season, breaking the old team mark of 21, set in 1999.
UW-Green Bay took a 1-0 lead in the fourth and added to it with three runs in the fifth. Amber Techlin singled to start the fourth inning and moved to second on a sacrifice bunt from Rostkowski. Phoenix pitcher Stephanie Hansen, who limited the Badgers to just two hits in game two, helped her own cause with an RBI-single to give UWGB a 1-0 lead. Four-straight singles in the fifth allowed UWGB to increase its lead to 4-0.
Wisconsin lit the scoreboard in the bottom of the fifth with a little help from Hansen. Miller advanced to first on a fielder's choice and moved to second on a ground out. She was awarded third on an illegal pitch by Hansen and with two away, Miller scored on a wild pitch that sailed high and outside.
The Badgers travel to Minnesota Saturday and Sunday to face the Gophers. Bucky takes on Minnesota Saturday at 6 p.m. and Wisconsin closes out its regular season against Goldy on Sunday at noon.
