CEDAR FALLS, IOWA -- A powerful offense paved the way for the Wisconsin softball team on the second day of the UNI Dome Classic, as the Badgers came away with a pair of wins on Saturday.
Wisconsin (3-0) earned its first win of the day with an 8-0 victory over Omaha, then later in the day came away with a 10-7 win over Toledo to remain undefeated in the season-opening tournament.
"I thought the offense really carried the way today and it was fun to see everyone really come out swinging," Wisconsin head coach Yvette Healy said. "To take two wins, it's always a great day. The pitching in the first game was really strong and it was fun to see Kaitlyn (Menz) throw well and Kirsten (Stevens) got her first win of the season too, so it's great to see."
The Badgers started the day on a high note by clinching the run rule against Omaha. Freshman Kaitlyn Menz recorded her second shutout in just the second start of her career.
Junior Samantha Arents put the Badgers on the scoreboard in the bottom of the first inning, bringing home senior Chloe Miller with a sac fly.
Arents would widen the Wisconsin lead, 3-0, two innings later, doubling to send junior Brooke Wyderski and sophomore Brianna Flugaur home. Rookie Jordan Little added to the advantage, grounding out but in the process helping fellow freshman Heather Rudnicki score.
Miller would score again in the fourth with a solo homer, upping the Wisconsin lead to 5-0. After a walk with the bases loaded made the score 6-0 in the sixth frame, Miller stepped up again to close out the contest.
Sophomores Stephanie Lombardo and Kelly Welsh each singled, advancing to third and second base respectively on junior Kelsey Jenkins' walk. Miller singled to right field, batting in the runners to finish off the Mavericks, 8-0.
The second game of the day proved to be more eventful, as the Badgers clawed their way out of a 3-0 deficit to come back and seal the 10-7 victory over Toledo.
"Toledo is a scrappy ball club and we knew they would give us a lot of fight," Healy said. "It was good that the team could work on making a comeback and coming from behind to string a lot of hits together, so we got to see a lot of really good things with resilience."
The Rockets scored first after Samantha Showalter doubled to bring home Celeste Fidge. In the top of the third, Rocket Chandler Rice homered following a Toledo single to bring the score to 3-0 and prompt a pitching change from junior Mariah Watts to senior Kirsten Stevens.
The Badger bats lit up in the bottom of the third to give Wisconsin the lead. Arents got the scoring rampage going by grounding out to send Miller home. Up next, Wyderski made her way home after sophomore Melanie Cross reached by a fielder's choice. With the bases loaded, sophomore Stephanie Lombardo singled to send Cross and sophomore Gabby Scherle home.
The Badgers piled it on the fifth inning, as Cross homered to give UW a two-run advantage. Back-to-back doubles by Jenkins and Miller sent Little and sophomore Kelly Walsh home and widened the Badgers' lead to 7-3. Jenkins then found her way home after Wyderski grounded out and Miller scored the fifth run of the inning thanks to a single by senior Sara Novak.
In the sixth inning, Lombardo brought Flugaur home by flying out to right field to bring the score to 10-3.
The Rockets refused to go down without a fight in the seventh inning. In the first five at-bats, sophomore Morrow recorded one strikeout, but Megan Choate singled and three Rockets walked to give Toledo its first run of the inning. Ashley Rauch then grounded out to bring in one more run and cut the Badger lead to 10-5. The Rockets then compiled two more runs after Kylie Gross singled, but Morrow struck out the final batter to end the ball game.
Wisconsin concludes the UNI Dome Classic on Sunday with a 5 p.m. (CT) clash against Drake.
