Long ball lovin’: Home runs lift Badgers over Purdue, 4-1

Sunday, April 28

West Lafayette, IN

11 AM

Wisconsin Badgers

36-10, 0

Purdue

30-23, 0

Wisconsin

Purdue

Photo by: Dan Sanger/Wisconsin Athletic Co

Long ball lovin’: Home runs lift Badgers over Purdue, 4-1

April 28, 2019 | Softball

Box Score

Foster, Johnson go yard in series finale

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. – The Wisconsin softball team completed a series sweep of Purdue Sunday afternoon, besting the Boilermakers 4-1 on the road. UW (36-10 overall, 13-7 B1G) won all three of its games against Purdue (30-23, 6-14) for its fourth conference sweep of the season.

Sophomore Lauren Foster got the scoring started in the fourth inning with a solo home run to left center.

The Badgers would strike again in the fifth to go up 2-0. After junior Kayla Konwent drew a walk and was replaced by senior Gabby Scherle on the base path, sophomore Taylor Johnson hit a ground ball to the shortstop. What should have been a routine play at first turned into Purdue's worst nightmare when the shortstop missed her target.

The error advanced Scherle to third and Johnson found herself between first and second with defenders threatening. While all attention was on Johnson, Scherle took off for home and beat the throw for a Badger run.

Purdue responded with a run in the sixth inning to make it a one run game, but a Taylor Johnson bomb over the left field wall in the seventh would secure the series sweep. Johnson's home run was a two-run blast that scored Konwent also scored Konwent.

Starting pitcher Kaitlyn Menz threw all seven innings of today's game with four strikeouts and three walks. She is now 17-6 on the season after going a perfect 2-0 this weekend.

Batting cleanup: Four notes to know

Foster hit her second home run of the season and the third of her career in today's game. The sophomore has now reached base in 23 consecutive games, tying Johnson for the longest reached-base streak by a Badger this season.
Johnson's two-run dinger was her second long ball of the weekend and her 11th of the season.
In total, the Badgers blasted six home runs on the weekend for a season total of 59 goners.
Wisconsin outhit Purdue 6-4.

On deck

The Badgers will return home to Goodman Diamond for the remainder of the regular season. They will host a doubleheader on Tuesday against Green Bay that begins at 3 p.m. before welcoming Nebraska to Madison for the final weekend of conference play Friday-Sunday.