Softball Packs for Green Bay
September 29, 2006 | Softball
The Wisconsin softball team concludes its fall exhibition season with a four-team tournament at UW-Green Bay Saturday and Sunday. The Badgers will take on the host Phoenix Friday at 11:30 a.m., and face UW-Parkside at 1:30 p.m. Sunday's games include an 11:30 a.m. match up with Kishwaukee and an afternoon game to determine placing.
UW pitchers Letty Olivarez and Leah Vanevenhoven combined to no-hit the Phoenix last Saturday at Goodman Diamond in Madison. Olivarez, a freshman, struck out four and walked two in four innings. Vanevenhoven struck out two in a 1-2-3 fifth inning.
The Badgers, meanwhile, pounded out 12 runs on 12 hits. Liz Klemp had a pinch-hit, three-run homer. Katie Hnatyk drove in three runs and finished 2-for-4 with a double and a triple.
Like Wisconsin, the UW-Parkside Rangers return a good deal of offense from a year ago. Seven starters, including leading hitter Allison Wodziak, return to a team that finished 25-28 in 2006 and placed eighth in the 13-member Great Lakes Valley Conference. Wodziak hit .314 last year as a junior with six home runs, 29 RBI and 25 runs scored.
UW-Parkside, however, returns just one of five pitchers this season. Junior Meagan Shimkus was 5-13 with an ERA of 2.16 in 22 appearances for the Rangers a year ago. She led the team with 173 strikeouts in 126.2 innings pitched.
UW-Parkside has had some success this fall, going 7-2 including five wins while placing first at its fall tournament last weekend. Kishwaukee, a two-year community college in Illinois, also competed at the Parkside Fall tournament and was winless in four games.
Badger pitcher Eden Brock should take the circle for the first time this weekend. Brock 's first start against Northwestern was cancelled due to rain last Saturday. Her 50 career wins rank third all-time in UW history while her 347 strikeouts rank fourth.
