Five Things to Know: Badgers head back to Florida for two Big Ten series

Thursday, March 11

Leesburg, FL

9 AM

Wisconsin Badgers

Ohio State

Photo by: Dan Sanger/Wisconsin Athletic Co

Five Things to Know: Badgers head back to Florida for two Big Ten series

March 08, 2021 | Softball

UW to take on Ohio State and Michigan in Leesburg, Florida

MADISON, Wis. – The Wisconsin softball team is heading back to Florida for a pair of Big Ten Conference series. Wisconsin will take on Ohio State on Thursday for a 9 a.m. CT doubleheader before concluding the series on Friday at 10 a.m. The Badgers close out the weekend by facing No. 21 Michigan in a Saturday doubleheader that begins at 9:20 a.m. CT before the series finale on Sunday at 8:20 a.m.

Attendance for the games is limited to the immediate families of the student-athletes. All six games in Florida will be streamed online through Big Ten Network+ .In addition, fans can also follow the action on Twitter (@BadgerSoftball) or Instagram (@BadgerSoftball).

1. LAST TIME OUT: The Badgers are coming off of a 3-3 weekend in Florida back on Feb. 26-28. UW swept its double header against Penn State to open the season before also picking up a win against Maryland on the final day of the tournament. Maddie Schwartz was stellar on the mound for the Badgers, as she pitched two complete games and two shutouts for the Cardinal and White. She pitched 25 innings and had 14 strikeouts and only four walks.

2. BIG DEBUTS: Eight Badgers - Christaana Angelopulos, Gabby Altobelli, Peyton Bannon, Gabi Carra, Alyssa McClelland, Sylvia Flarity, Skylar Sirdashney and Gabi Salo - all made their Badger debuts two weeks ago. Angelopulos and Sirdashney started all six games for UW in Florida while Flarity made four starts and Carra started a pair of games.

Sirdashney led the Badger offense in Florida, as she had a team-best six hits three of each were for extra-bases. She also had a .668 slugging percentage and a .313 batting average.

3. STRAIGHT FROM THE DIAMOND:

We're heading back to Florida this week!

Hear what @YvetteHealy had to say at the #Badgers weekly press conference#OnWisconsin pic.twitter.com/l5I7aYQ0ej
— Wisconsin Softball (@BadgerSoftball) March 9, 2021

4. STELLAR STEALING: The Badgers went 13-for-17 on stolen-base attempts during the opening weekend of the season, led by Ally Miklesh. The Stevens Point native was a perfect 5-for-5 on steals while Morgan Kummer (3) and Fiona Giradot (2) also had multiple stolen bases during UW's first six games of the year.

5. AGAINST THE COMPETITION:
OHIO STATE: Wisconsin is 28-20-1 all time against Ohio State and haven't faced the Buckeyes since defeating OSU 10-1 at the 2019 Big Ten Tournament.

MICHIGAN: The Badgers are 8-37 all time against Michigan, but are 4-4 in their last eight meetings against the Wolverines. UW looks to earn its first win against Michigan since April 21, 2017.