MADISON, Wis. – The Wisconsin softball team is set to take on its toughest competition thus far this weekend at the Sun Devil Classic in Tempe, Arizona. The tournament begins on Friday with games at 10:30 a.m. against Princeton and 1 p.m. against No. 11 Texas. The Badgers will play Texas again Saturday at 1:30 p.m. before taking on No. 13 Arizona State at 6:30 p.m. Wisconsin wraps up the weekend on Sunday with a game against Princeton at 11 a.m.
 
1. BEST START EVER: Last weekend at the Islander Invitational in Corpus Christi, Texas, the Badgers were a perfect 5-0 for 10 straight wins. UW's 13-1 start this season is the best in program history, beating out the 12-1 start of the 2013 Big Ten Tournament championship team.
 
2. STEADY STEPH: Senior Stephanie Lombardo was a spark of offense all weekend for the Badgers. She led the team with a batting average of .500 and had a weekend-best seven hits. Lombardo recorded six RBI in her five starts, including a sacrifice fly. The New Berlin, Wisconsin, native was especially dominant on Saturday, when she hit .667 (4-6) with a home run and six RBI.
 
3. HOME RUN QUEEN: Caroline Hedgcock had five hits on the weekend, three of which were home runs. She hit .455 at the Islander Invitational with a team-best slugging percentage of 1.273.
 
4. NO MERCY FROM MENZ: After only one start in the first nine games of the season, Kaitlyn Menz started three of UW's five games last weekend. She earned the win in each of her starts for a 4-0 start to 2019. The junior was nearly perfect against Texas Southern on Saturday, striking out 10 of the 20 batters she faced. Her 10 K's tied her career high. Menz did not give up a walk the in her 13.2 innings in the circle.
 
5. SCOUTING THE OPPONENTS:
Princeton: The Tigers began their season last weekend at the Liberty Tournament, finishing with a 1-3 record. After beating Wright State in five innings via the run rule, Princeton dropped its next three games in a row, failing to score in each contest. Senior Alex Viscusi led the Tigers with two hits and two runs in three at bats.
 
No. 11 Texas: The Longhorns are 12-1 through the first three weeks of the season. Texas has recorded one ranked win over No. 18 LSU. It's only loss came to No. 8 LSU at the St. Pete/Clearwater Elite Invitational. The Longhorns are led by sophomore Janae Jefferson. The infielder bats .463 and has a team-best 19 hits and 12 runs this season.
 
No. 13 Arizona State: The host Sun Devils have a 12-4 record after a 4-2 weekend at the prestigious Mary Nutter Collegiate Classic. Their weekend started with shutout losses to Oklahoma State and Texas Tech but ended with four-straight wins over Nebraska, Texas A&M, Bethune-Cookman and Cal Poly. Kindra Hackbarth is ASU's player to watch. The junior has tallied 22 hits, 20 runs and 18 RBI thus far for a .431 batting average.