IOWA CITY, Iowa -- A windy day on the road made for a hitters paradise in Iowa City as the Badger bats dominated Iowa in Wisconsin's Big Ten opener. Totaling 12 hits on the day with 10 different Badgers reaching base, UW took the Friday victory 10-5.
The Wisconsin offense jumped on the Hawkeyes from the opening pitch with seven of the Badgers' ten runs coming in the opening three innings.
Kayla Konwent got things started with a lead-off single followed by two walks and a fielders choice, loading the bases with no outs in the first. Then, one of Wisconsin's hottest hitters as of late, outfielder
Peyton Bannon, stepped to the plate to drive in two runs on a single up the middle.
Ally Miklesh would then earn the third RBI of the inning, scoring Bannon while reaching on a fielder's choice.
Wisconsin handed off a 3-0 lead to Badger ace
Maddie Schwartz. The senior would go all seven innings in the circle for Head Coach
Yvette Healy with a dominate performance in the wind and cold finishing with five strikeouts while only allowing five Iowa hits.
In the second, Konwent got her second at-bat of the game hitting in the lead-off spot and she waisted no time giving the Badgers some more runs as she sent a line drive home run over the right-center wall, scoring herself and
Christaana Angelopulos who was on base via a lead-off single to start the inning.
Wisconsin notched two more runs in the third thanks to a Bannon triple off the right field fence to open the inning. Miklesh would get her second RBI of the day by scoring Bannon with a hit and Angelopulos would score Miklesh with a ball through the Hawkeye second baseman's glove. The Badgers entered the bottom of the third with a 7-0 lead.
In the bottom of the third, Iowa saw its first sign of life after Brylee Klosterman used the wind to her advantage to send one over the right field fence, but Schwartz limited the Hawkeyes to only one.
With scoreless innings in the fourth and fifth from both teams, Konwent stepped back up to the plate looking to breathe some energy into the frozen benches. On the first pitch of the at-bat, she sent another home run over the wall in center for a solo shot that gave the Badgers a 8-1 lead.
Looking to save their home opener, the Hawkeyes tallied four runs in the sixth inning off of a couple extra-base hits down the line, but the Badger bats were too much to overcome as UW tacked on two more in the top of the seventh with hits from
Morgan Kummer,
Jolie Fish and Konwent yet again.
Schwartz added another win to her resume as she is now 11-2 with a 2.04 season ERA.
Straight from the field:
Head Coach Yvette Healy:
"Today was exciting. Tough conditions, but I thought our team just gutted it out and played hard for seven innings. We're taking it one inning at a time and really not taking pitches off while holding ourselves to a high standard, just trying to play the game regardless on who's on the other side and at a high level."
Senior Kayla Konwent:
"Going out the first game, you just want to start with a statement. I think coming in and being able to beat Iowa, they are a good team with history in the NCAA and Big Ten Tournaments , its just an awesome start.
The ball just kind of looked like a beach ball today, so something you don't really have an explanation of why things go the way they do, but it was awesome to see the ball well. The pitcher was giving me my pitch and I was able to capitalize on it."
Batting Cleanup:
- Konwent finished the day going 4-5 with four RBI's
- Bannon went 2-4 with two RBI's
- Kummer ended with two hits on three at-bats
- Miklesh totaled two RBI's and score two runs
Up next: The Badgers will wrap up their series with Iowa on Sunday with a doubleheader at noon. UW and Iowa were originally supposed to play on Saturday but that game was postponed due to cold temperatures. Fans can watch along on Big Ten Network+ or by following @BadgerSoftball on Twitter.
