Feb. 18, 2012
Box Score Box Score 
USF 5 , Wisconsin 0
USF Softball Stadium • Tampa, Fla. | |
| |
 |
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | R | H | E | | WIS | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0
| 3 | 1
| USF
| 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 2 | X | 5 | 7
| 0
| | | | | | Pitchers
| IP | H | R | ER | BB | SO | | W | Richardson (2-0) | 4.2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 6 | | L | Darrah (0-1) | 5.2 | 7 | 5 | 3 | 1 | 3 | | |
| |
TAMPA, Fla. -- With just three hits, the Wisconsin softball team struggled to advance runners Saturday and fell to South Florida, 5-0, at USF Softball Stadium in Tampa, Fla.
| Fast Facts | | • Badger strand six runners | | • Darrah suffers her first loss of the season | | • Wisconsin takes on Drake at 7 a.m. (CT) on Sunday | |
The Badgers left six runners on base, including three in scoring position, in the shutout loss.
Wisconsin (1-1) struggled to score runners from the start. In each of the first three innings, the Badgers had runners reach second base, but were unable to find ways to move them across the plate.
After Karla Powell walked to move Mary Massei to second base in the third inning, USF (4-1) replaced starting pitcher Sam Greiner with reliever Lindsey Richardson.
Richardson went on to shut down the UW batters, giving up just one hit and striking out six in 4.2 innings of work.
The Bulls were finally able to get to UW starting pitcher Cassandra Darrah in the fourth inning.
After allowing just two hits in the first three frames, Darrah gave up four consecutive hits to USF in the fourth. The Bulls capitalized, scoring three runs and taking a 3-0 lead.
Wisconsin was unable to score in the fifth or sixth innings and USF put up a pair of runs in the bottom of the sixth to take a 5-0 lead.
A fly out and a pair of groundouts ended the game for the Badgers in the top of the seventh.
Massei, Whitney Massey and Marissa Mersch each had a hit for Wisconsin.
Darrah worked the circle for 5.2 innings, allowing three earned runs on seven hits, striking out three and walking one.
Amanda Najdek entered the game in the sixth inning, recording one out and walking one batter.
The Badgers wrap up action at the USF Tournament on Sunday, Feb. 19, with a pair of games. Wisconsin and Drake kick off the morning's action at 7 a.m. (CT) and the Badgers play Arkansas immediately following the first game.
UWBadgers.com will have complete coverage of both games, including a live Gameday Blog and Twitter updates from @BadgerSoftball.
