March 25, 2012
• Box Score | Box Score 
Wisconsin 5, Iowa 4
Pearl Field • Iowa City, Iowa | |
| |
 |
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | R | H | E | | WIS | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 5
| 8 | 0
| IOWA
| 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 1 | 4 | 10 | 1
| | | | Pitchers
| IP | H | R | ER | BB | SO | | W | Darrah (9-5) | 7.0 | 10 | 4 | 4 | 1 | 4 | | L | Lyon (5-10) | 5.1 | 8 | 4 | 4 | 0 | 3 | | |
| |
IOWA CITY, Iowa.-- Tough defense and great pitching from Cassandra Darrah led the Wisconsin softball team to a 5-4 win over Iowa at Pearl Field in Iowa City, Iowa Sunday afternoon.
| Fast Facts | | • Darrah earns second complete game win of weekend | | • Badgers improve to 2-1 in Big Ten play | | • Wisconsin opens play in Madison on March 31 | |
Wisconsin (13-10 overall, 2-1 Big Ten) got things started early in the second inning when Maria Van Abel put down a bunt for a base hit. After stealing second, Shannel Blackshear moved Van Abel over to third with a single up the middle. Blackshear was able to move to second base with Iowa (11-17, 1-2) worried about Van Abel rounding third. Marissa Mersch hit a high fly ball to left, which the Hawkeye outfielder lost in the sun, scoring both Van Abel and Blackshear to put Wisconsin up 2-0.
After two scoreless innings, the Badgers struck again in the fifth. Mersch started off the inning with a single to left field and advanced to second on a sacrifice bunt by Mary Massei. Michelle Mueller followed with an infield single, moving Mersch to third. Mersch then scored Wisconsin's third run on a sacrifice fly by Whitney Massey. After Mueller stole third, Karla Powell singled down the right field line to score Mueller and put Wisconsin up 4-0.
Iowa changed pitchers in the sixth inning, bringing in Kayla Massey. After holding the Hawkeyes scoreless after five innings, Katie Keim bombed a three-run home run to bring Iowa within one, 4-3.
The Badgers answered back in the seventh inning, after both Massei and Massey walked to put runners in scoring position. Molly Spence pinch-hit and scored Massei on an error by Iowa's centerfielder, Johnnie Dowling, to give the Badgers a 5-3 lead going into the bottom of the seventh.
Iowa rallied back in the bottom of the inning, led by a single from Dowling. Dowling moved to second on a sacrifice bunt. Megan Blank hit a bullet up the middle, giving Iowa runners on first and third with two outs. Liz Watkins got hit by a pitch to load the bases and Bradi Wall hit an infield single to score Dowling from third. With the score within one, 5-4, and the bases loaded, Darrah was able to get Keim to ground out to end the game.
Darrah improved to 9-5 after pitching three complete games against Iowa over the weekend. She struck out four batters and allowed 10 hits in seven innings.
Lyon suffered the loss, allowing eight hits and four earned runs.
Iowa left eight runners on base, while Wisconsin left six stranded.
Wisconsin hosts Northwestern at Goodman Diamond Mar. 31-Apr. 1 in its first home series of the season. The two teams will battle in a doubleheader on Saturday, Mar. 31 at noon and 2 p.m. and play again on Sunday, Apr. 1 at 2 p.m. Sunday's game will be shown live on the Big Ten Network.
