March 31, 2010
Box Score
GREEN BAY, Wis. -- The Wisconsin softball team hit three home runs and put up 11 runs, but a strong comeback by Green Bay resulted in a 12-11 defeat for the Badgers in game one of a doubleheader at Green Bay on Wednesday afternoon.
Tied at 9-9 going into the top of the seventh, freshman Shannel Blackshear singled to lead things off. After a batter’s obstruction call on fellow freshman Molly Spence, sophomore Karla Powell drilled her third home run of the season to left field to make it 11-9 UW.
It was Wisconsin’s third home run of the game, the most homers in a single contest by UW since hitting five against East Tennessee State on March 3, 2007.
Green Bay responded though with three runs in the bottom of the seventh inning to record the win.
The first two batters of the inning reached for the Phoenix and then advanced to second and third on a passed ball. With one out, an RBI single by Sara Junion made it 11-10. After the second out was made, Alli Rivera, who was 4-for-4, came to the plate with two outs and runners on the corners. The Badgers elected to intentionally walk Rivera, but ball three squirted away from freshman catcher Maggie Strange to bring in the tying run and moving Junion to second.
After the walk was completed, Dani Peerenboom singled up the middle for the walk-off hit.
The Phoenix struck early using a two-out rally to take a 3-0 lead, but the Badgers cut the deficit to one run with a two-out rally of their own in the top of the third.
With one out, Strange stroked a double to right centerfield. Following a pop out by senior Katie Soderberg, freshman Whitney Massey hit a sinking line drive to left field that got under the glove of Kendra Woepse and ran to the wall for a triple. Fellow freshman Kendall Grimm capped the scoring in the inning as she followed Massey with an RBI single to left field.
Green Bay manufactured a run in the bottom of the fourth to take a 4-2 lead, but Wisconsin took a 7-4 lead thanks to a five-run, fifth inning, highlighted by back-to-back home runs by Blackshear and Spence.
Junior Ashley Hanewich led things off with a single. After two outs were recorded, freshman Whitney Massey was hit by a pitch. A passed ball allowed both runners to move up before a throwing error on pitcher Katie Cooney enabled Hanewich to score, Massey to gain third and freshman Kendall Grimm to reach first safely.
Blackshear, who finished with three RBI, then nailed her third home run of the year to left centerfield to give UW a 6-4 lead. Spence answered that with her fifth home run of the season, marking the first time Wisconsin hit back-to-back home runs since Letty Olivarez and Valynica Raphael did it against Illinois on April 20, 2007.
After Rivera hit an RBI double to make it 7-5 after five innings, the Badgers tacked on two runs in the top of the sixth thanks to an RBI single by Soderberg and an RBI double by Massey, her second run driven in of the game.
Four runs by the Phoenix in the bottom of the sixth tied the game at 9-9 heading into the final frame.
