April 27, 2011
• Box Score | Box Score 
Wisconsin 7, Iowa 6
Pearl Field • Iowa City, Iowa
| |
| |
 |
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | R | H | E | | Wisconsin | 1
| 5
| 0
| 0
| 0
| 0
| 1
| 7
| 9
| 4
| Iowa
| 4
| 1
| 1
| 0
| 0
| 0
| 0
| 6
| 11
| 1
| | | | | | Pitchers
| IP | H | R | ER | BB | SO | W
| Najdek (4-3) | 6.0 | 7 | 1 | 0 | 1
| 0 | | L | Massey (12-8) | 2.0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 0 | | |
| |
IOWA CITY, Iowa -- What started out as a slugfest turned into a pitchers' duel during game one of Wednesday's softball doubleheader at Iowa.
Wisconsin and Iowa combined for 12 runs through the first three innings, but it was a squeeze play in the top of the seventh inning that gave the Badgers (25-19, 5-8) a 7-6 win over the Hawkeyes (26-18, 8-5).
Fast Facts
| • Five-run 2nd inning propels UW to claim victory
| • Najdek pitches six innings of relief to get win
| • Massey hits UW's first pinch-hit home run since 2008
| |
With the win, UW recorded its 13th comeback victory of the year - one off the school record -- and became the first visiting team to win at Pearl Field this season, snapping the Hawkeyes' seven-game home winning streak.
Tied at 6-6 in the seventh inning, Shannel Blackshear led off with a walk. Abby Gregory pinch ran for Blackshear and advanced to second on a passed ball. Karla Powell then lifted a fly ball to right field that was deep enough to let Gregory advance to third base.
With the go-ahead run at third, Stephanie Peace stepped in and took a ball. She then fouled off a bunt on a squeeze attempt, but came right back on the next pitch and got the bunt down. Gregory raced home from third and dove in ahead of the tag from Iowa catcher Liz Watkins to give UW the lead.
Iowa mounted a threat in the bottom of the seventh as Johnnie Dowling hit a one-out double, but Brianna Luna grounded out to short and Michelle Zoeller grounded out to Jordan Skinner at second for the final out.
Amanda Najdek got the win after throwing six innings of stellar relief. Iowa tagged UW starter Cassandra Darrah for five runs - four earned - in one inning of work, but Najdek limited the Hawkeyes to just one unearned run over the final six innings of the game to improve to 4-3 on the season.
Wisconsin got the scoring started in the first inning.
Blackshear lined a single to center field with two outs and Powell followed by blasting a shot high off the wall in left field. Blackshear was able to score from first to give UW the 1-0 lead on Powell's RBI double.
Iowa responded by batting around in the bottom of the first and scoring four runs. The Hawkeyes used three hits and a pair of UW errors to take the three-run lead.
Wisconsin came right back though in the top of the second, batting around and scoring five runs to lead, 6-4.
Michelle Mueller led off with a bunt single. One batter later, Darrah drew a one-out walk. Whitney Massey then pinch hit for Jordan Skinner and pulled the first pitch over the wall in right field for her second home run of the season.
Massey's blast, which was the first pinch-hit home run by a Badger since Valyncia Raphael did it against Princeton on March 23, 2008, tied the game at 4-4 but UW wasn't done scoring in the inning.
Mary Massei and Jennifer Krueger followed Massey's home run with back-to-back singles, and Blackshear reached on a fielder's choice to load the bases. Powell then hit a deep fly ball to right field to score Massei. Krueger also tagged up on the play, which proved to be important.
With runners on the corners, Blackshear took off in a steal attempt of second. Watkins tried to throw her out, but the ball sailed into center field, allowing Krueger to score from third.
Iowa scored one run each in the second and third innings to tie the game up at 6-6.
