UW Concludes Regular Season vs. Iowa
May 04, 2006 | Softball
The University of Wisconsin softball team (21-21, 5-10 Big Ten) concludes its regular season this weekend at Goodman Softball Complex where it plays host to Iowa (38-18, 11-6) at noon Saturday and Sunday. The games will have live stats and a free radio broadcast available on uwbadgers.com.
The Badgers had another rain-shortened weekend when only the first game of their doubleheader Sunday vs. Ohio State was played. With a 1-2 weekend, Wisconsin didn't get a chance to move up in the conference standings and now stands in ninth place behind 7-10 Purdue and 6-9 Indiana.
Three conditions need to be met for UW to get in the Big Ten tournament, which only takes the top eight teams: 1) it has to sweep the Hawkeyes; 2) Ohio State has to sweep Penn State; and 3) Purdue has to sweep Indiana or Indiana has to sweep Purdue.
Those will be no easy tasks, especially as Iowa is having another strong season. Emily Nichols has a team-best .338 batting average, which ranks among the conference's top 10. The sophomore also has 14 doubles and five homers to combine for a .522 slugging mark and leads her squad with 33 RBIs.
Stacy May is not far behind Nichols, hitting for a .325 average with a .506 slugging percentage on the strength of 12 doubles and six home runs. May hit the walk-off home run on Sunday to give the Hawkeyes the 4-3 win in game one of the doubleheader vs. Penn State.
In the pitcher's circle, Brittany Weil has shouldered the bulk of the load, owning a 2.35 ERA in 45 appearances. The freshman is 25-12 this season and has worked 28 complete games in 31 starts.
Altogether, the Hawkeyes are throwing at a 2.50 ERA and are holding opponents to a .226 batting average. They will have to face a Wisconsin squad that had several players perform well recently.
In four games last week, three UW starters batted over .350 'sophomore Katie Hnatyk (6-for-14, .429, two home runs), junior Sam Polito (6-for-15, .400) and sophomore Joey Daniels (3-for-8, .375, five walks). They will be looked upon to provide the bulk of the offense this weekend.
Junior Eden Brock (17-12) has continued her marathon of pitching, starting the past 11 games. She threw complete-game shutouts vs. Illinois-Chicago last Wednesday and Penn State on Friday. For the year, Brock has a 3.38 ERA with 129 strikeouts and just 37 walks.
The Badgers are 4-21 all-time against Iowa, including a split with the Hawkeyes on the road last season. In addition, Wisconsin is 5-5 in regular-season finales.
Senior Kaitlin Reiss will play her final regular-season games as a Badger.
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