MADISON, Wis. -- The Wisconsin women's softball team notched their first home win of the season in dominating fashion, dispatching the Iowa Hawkeyes, 8-1, at Goodman Diamond on Friday night.

After a scoreless first inning, the Badgers (24-6 overall, 3-4 Big Ten) capitalized on a huge second inning, scoring three runs over the Hawkeyes (8-22, 2-5) in the process.

UW opened up the scoring after Taylor Berry doubled to right center, allowing Jordan Little to run home to put the team up 1-0.

Stephanie Lombardo scored the second run of the inning after Kelsey Jenkins walked with bases loaded and Berry was able to score the third run thanks to a Chloe Miller grounder to first base.

In the third inning, the Cardinal and Red extended their lead to 4-0 when McKenna Heim made it to home on a Hawkeye error in the infield.

Iowa got its lone score of the game at the top of the fourth when a hit by Angel Schmiederer to the left field scored Kaitlyn Mullarkey to put the Black and Gold on the scoreboard, but UW responded at the bottom of the inning with a home run by Melanie Cross that scored both her and Novak to put Wisconsin up 6-1.

With two outs at the start of the sixth inning, Iowa had a prime opportunity to reduce its five-run deficit with the bases loaded and pinch hitter, Taylor Libby up to bat, but Miller made a clutch catch to notch the third out.

At the bottom of the sixth, Miller showed why she's the nation's top hitter, slamming a home run that scored both her and Welsh to extend the Badgers' lead to 8-1.

The Badgers return to Goodman Diamond tomorrow at 1 p.m. (CT) to take on the Hawkeyes in the second game of the series.

Notes to Know:
-Wisconsin outhit the Hawkeyes 9-2.
-Chloe Miller led the Badgers with three RBI, including a two-RBI homer in the sixth inning. With her run scored, Miller moved into third all-time in career runs with 130.
-Melanie Cross hit her fifth home run of the season in the fifth inning, batting in two runs.
-Taylor Berry's RBI double was her second hit of the season and second double of her career.
-Kaitlyn Menz pitched all seven innings, throwing five strikeouts and allowing just one run.

Details from the Dugout:
"Over this past week our coaches put us in drills that put us in pressure situations and I feel like during the game today we all contributed down through the lineup."

"(Menz) is so dependable. She's awesome, she doesn't act like a freshman. She is doing so well this year and I couldn't be happier for her."

"We're watching that (the Nebraska series), learning from it, and getting better."
-Junior Brooke Wyderski

"To get our first win on the home field is great, I think everyone was dying to sing Varsity, so that felt really sweet. We know how many great players have been here in the past and come through and our team really wanted to keep that legacy going. It felt good."

"You know, a lot of people came through. It really started with a big boost off the bench with Taylor Berry. She hadn't gotten a start in a while and is a senior from Iowa coming out and putting a double to the fence, getting the crowd going. It was really fun. Then when you get home runs with Mel Cross and Chloe Miller, that makes our job a lot easier."

"I just thought she (Menz) had a lot of movement. I was seeing a lot of break on her pitch and it was getting a lot of swinging strikes. For her to put up five Ks is a big deal. Whenever we can see a swinging strike you're going to keep trying to attack that."
-UW head coach Yvette Healy