Badgers Host Illinois, Iowa This Weekend
April 30, 2004 | Softball
This weekend will go a long way in determining whether or not the Wisconsin softball team will earn a berth in the eight-team Big Ten tournament in two weeks. The Badgers host Illinois this Friday and Saturday and Iowa on Sunday at Goodman Diamond.
UW (27-23 overall, 5-9 Big Ten) enters the next-to-last weekend of conference play tied with Ohio State and Penn State for seventh place in the Big Ten. Wisconsin will face off against the Fighting Illini at 6 p.m. Friday and noon Saturday before taking on the Hawkeyes in a doubleheader beginning at noon Sunday.
The Badgers come into this weekend's play fresh off a 3-0 win at Loyola-Chicago Wednesday. Freshman Eden Brock tossed a two-hitter and Boo Gillette and Athena Vasquez homered in the win. Gillette's two RBI in the contest brought her 2004 total to a UW single-season record 34.
Follow The Games Live on the Web
UWBADGERS.com will offer live stats and a live audio webcast for all of this year's home games. Both features can found by clicking on the 'Softball Game Day' link on the softball page. Brian Sonnenberg and John Nosal will have the call on the webcasts.
Scouting Illinois
The Illini (34-17-1, 9-5 Big Ten) enter this weekend in third place in the Big Ten race. Last week Illinois took one game against DePaul last Wednesday before continuing conference play against Penn State and Ohio State, earning splits against each team. The Illini posted a doubleheader sweep of Southern Illinois on Tuesday. Sophomore first baseman Jenna Hall leads Illinois' offense with five homers, 30 RBI and nine doubles and a .336 average. Also posing a threat at the plate is senior shortstop Lindsey Hamma, who is second on the squad with a .331 average and has driven in 18 runs and posted four doubles and a triple. Senior Amanda Fortune fronts Illinois' pitching staff with a 20-9 record, including 18 complete games and 10 shutouts, while hurling for a 1.22 ERA. Illinois holds the all-time edge over Wisconsin 8-1. The last time the Badgers and Illini squared off in Madison was in 2002, resulting in a split, with Wisconsin taking the opener 3-2.
Scouting Iowa
The Hawkeyes (34-18, 11-3 Big Ten) trail only Michigan in the Big Ten standings and are fresh off a 5-1 win over Western Illinois on Tuesday. Iowa posted a Friday-Saturday sweep of Penn State and a Sunday split with Ohio State last weekend. In her junior season Lisa Birocci has proven herself to be a threat both in the pitcher's circle and at the plate. Birocci is second on the squad with a .329 average and also has five homers and 10 RBI. The Big Ten's leader with 252 strikeouts, Birocci has a 0.96 ERA with a 19-9 record. She has thrown 16 complete games and nine shutouts. The Badgers and Hawkeyes are familiar opponents, having already met three times this season with Wisconsin owning the edge two games to one. The Badgers took the teams' last matchup 2-1 in Iowa City in the final game of the Hawkeye Classic on March 28.
