MADISON, Wis. — Thanks to a seventh inning walk-off hit from freshman Peyton Bannon, the Wisconsin softball team defeated the Iowa Hawkeyes 3-2 Sunday afternoon at Goodman Diamond.
The Badgers got out to an early, two-run lead in the first inning with back-to-back hits to lead off the game including a double from Bannon and and RBI triple from Fiona Girardot. Megan Donahue had the other RBI of the first inning, scoring Girardot on a sacrifice bunt.
Iowa responded with a run of their own in the top of the second.
From there, Wisconsin pitcher Tessa Magnanimo was able to find her stride against the Hawkeyes, pitching a total of five innings with only one earned run and four strikeouts.
Junior Maddie Schwartz took over the circle in the top of the sixth where Iowa would tie the ball game on a high-bouncing infield single. Schwartz held off a threatening Iowa offense from scoring anymore by forcing back-to-back ground balls from Iowa hitters to get out of the inning. She then pitched a three-up, three-down inning in the seventh to set Wisconsin up for the final inning walkoff.
In the seventh, Ally Miklesh recorded a slap hit single to left to reach base for Wisconsin with one out. Moving to the top of its order, Wisconsin saw hope for its hottest hitters of the day to reach the plate as Bannon was 1-3 and Girardot sat in the hole batting 3-3 on the day.
On the first pitch of her at back, Bannon sent a line drive straight over the Iowa center fielder to score Miklesh all the way from first base.
Schwartz took the win in the circle for Wisconsin with other Badger hitters contributing included Skylar Sirdashney with a sixth-inning single. The Badgers finished with seven hits and zero errors on the day to finish with a 3-1 series record against the Hawkeyes.
Up next: Wisconsin will travel to Rutgers next weekend with a Friday first pitch scheduled for 2 p.m. Watch along on Big Ten Network+ or tune into @BadgerSoftball on Twitter for live updates.
