Softball Hosts Fall Tourney Saturday
August 24, 2006 | Softball
The University of Wisconsin softball team will play host to a three-team round robin, exhibition tournament Saturday, Sept. 23, at Goodman Diamond. The Badgers along with UW-Green Bay and 2006 NCAA runner-up Northwestern are slated to compete. A complete schedule is listed below. UW will play at 1 p.m. and 3 p.m.
Second-year head coach Chandelle Schulte is having an easier go at it this fall after a year's time has elapsed getting to know her team. Schulte sees great improvement when comparing where her team is at now with where it was a year ago at this time.
'It's so much easier,' said Schulte. 'The kids understand the system. They buy into it. They're where they're supposed to be on the field so we can really begin to do some fun stuff. We're going to be more aggressive at times on the bases and hit away in certain situations where in the past we might have been a little more conservative.'
Schulte lost just one player to graduation and added three student-athletes in freshmen Katie Soderberg (Delta, B.C.), Letty Olivarez (Newark, Calif.) and Shannon Krein (Escalon, Calif.).
Surrounded by familiar faces, the coaches and players will find extra comfort on the diamond in 2007.
'I think chemistry goes a long way and we certainly have chemistry on our side, ' said Schulte. 'They're pushing each other, but they 're there for each other. They (the players) are comfortable with the coaching staff and our expectations of them, and they're beginning to get comfortable with their own expectations of themselves.'
Second-team All-Big Ten selection Katie Hnatyk (London, Ontario) and third-team selection Joey Daniels (Oakley, Calif.) return to the Badger lineup this season. Hnatyk, a junior, returned to the team last Friday after helping Canada's softball team qualify for the 2008 Summer Olympic Games in Beijing, China. With 19 career home runs, Hnatyk is one shy of UW's all-time record.
Senior Eden Brock (Wakulla County, Fla.) has won 50 games in the circle for the Badgers in the last three seasons. Her 347 strikeouts rank fourth in school history. Brock was 18-13 in 38 appearances last season.
'I would like to see some different lineups this weekend if I can,' said Schulte. 'One of our primary things is we would like to come out and win. There's an in-state rival and then there's Northwestern ' both are very good opponents for us.'
UW-Green Bay lost five starters in the lineup and its top pitcher from a year ago. Northwestern lost four starters and a pitcher, but returns two All-Americans. The first, senior pitcher Eileen Canney, was last year's Big Ten Pitcher of the Year. The second, sophomore first baseman Garland Cooper, was the Big Ten Player of the Year.
This weekend's tournament is the first of two for the Badgers this fall. Wisconsin will play four games at UW-Green Bay's Fall Invite next weekend.
Saturday's Schedule of Events
11 a.m. UW-Green Bay (14-21) vs. Northwestern (50-15)
1 p.m. UW-Green Bay vs. Wisconsin (22-22)
3 p.m. Northwestern vs. Wisconsin
(2006 records in parenthesis)
Notes:
'Dating back to 2001, the Badgers are 9-1 at this event, including four wins against UW-Green Bay. Wisconsin defeated the Phoenix, 1-0, in eight innings in the fall of 2005. The last time these two teams met during the regular season was the spring of 2003 (teams split a doubleheader).
'Northwestern took a pair of Big Ten games from Wisconsin last spring in Evanston, Ill., on its way to its fourth Women's College World Series appearance. Northwestern lost to Arizona, 5-0, in the championship game after putting together its first 50-win season.
'Wisconsin is scheduled to meet both teams during its 2007 regular season. The Badgers host Northwestern April 20-21 before traveling to Green Bay April 24.
