Wisconsin wins first home game of the season

Saturday, April 3

Madison, WI

12 PM

Wisconsin Badgers

4-14, 0

Illinois

13-5, 0

Illinois

Wisconsin

Photo by: Tom Lynn

Wisconsin wins first home game of the season

April 03, 2021 | Softball

Box Score Photo Gallery

UW rallies back 2-1 after falling 7-2 in a doubleheader against Illinois

By: Miriam Jaber

MADISON, Wis. -- The Wisconsin softball team split its doubleheader with Illinois on Saturday at Goodman Diamond as the Badgers earned a 2-1 win in the second game after dropping a 7-2 decision in the first game.

Game One
The Illini jumped out to a 3-0 in the third inning and tacked on another run in the top of the fifth, but the Badgers countered with two runs of their own in the bottom half of the inning.

Ally Miklesh led things off with a single before Peyton Bannon reached on an error by the Illini. Miklesh scored on a bunt by Skylar Sirdashney before Bannon came home thanks to a Fiona Girardot single.

Despite an exciting fifth inning, Wisconsin was unable to maintain their momentum and the Illini added three more runs in the sixth and seventh innings to solidify their 7-2 win.

Haley Hestekin started the game, pitching three innings before Ava Justman, Maddie Schwartz and Tessa Magnanimo all saw action in the gae.

Game Two:
Freshman Peyton Bannon scored both runs in the Badgers' 2-1 win in the night cap. After going down 1-0 at the top of the first inning, Bannon opened the inning with a double before scoring on a Megan Donahue bunt to tie the game at 1-1.

Freshman @PeytonBannon earns a run for the #Badgers !

WIS: 1
ILL:1 pic.twitter.com/yeqxWtJsMi
— Wisconsin Softball (@BadgerSoftball) April 3, 2021

Bannon opened the third inning with a triple before scoring after Skylar Sirdashney looped a ball into right field to give UW its first lead of the weekend.

In the top of the seventh, the Illini had one out and the bases loaded but pitcher Tessa Magnanimo was able to get out of the jam. UW got the second out of the inning thanks to a force at home before Bannon caught a pop up for the final out of the game.

B7: What a play by @cangelop7 ! pic.twitter.com/1o3JI1J37N
— Wisconsin Softball (@BadgerSoftball) April 3, 2021

Tessa Magnanimo went the distance for UW, pitching seven innings while giving up no earned runs and earning two strike outs.

Batting Cleanup
- It was the Badgers' first win at Goodman since defeating Nebraska 4-2 on May 5, 2019.
- Magnanimo earned her first complete game in the second game of the doubleheader.
- Bannon has a team-high 11 runs this year and leads the Badgers in batting average with a .357 clip.
- The win snapped a nine-game losing skid for the Badgers

Up Next:
Wisconsin wraps up its series with Illinois on Sunday at 4 p.m. CT. Fans can watch the game live on Big Ten Network.