Wisconsin Badgers
Northwestern University
Around the Horn: Wisconsin remains at home to take on No. 20 Northwestern
April 13, 2023 | Softball
The Badgers are set to host Northwestern this upcoming weekend for Big Ten series
| Venue | Goodman Diamond | Madison, Wis. |
| Live Statistics | Game 1 | Game 2 | Game 3 |
| Watch (BTN+) | Game 1 | Game 2 | Game 3 (ESPN2) |
| Game Notes | Wisconsin |
| Social Media | Twitter | Facebook | Instagram |
MADISON, Wis. - The University of Wisconsin-Madison softball team will host a huge series against No.20/22 Northwestern this upcoming weekend at Goodman Diamond. The outcome of this series will determine who stands alone in first in the Big Ten conference rankings.
1. LAST TIME OUT: The Badgers had a busy schedule mid-week playing three games in less than 24 hours coming away with a 2-1 result. Wisconsin first faced DePaul on Tuesday afternoon and completed the game in five innings with an 11-1 victory. The quick game was paced by the success of veteran leaders Katie Keller and Peyton Bannon each with two hits along with a Kayla Konwent home run. But it was also the work of newcomers Eden Dempsey and Emily Bojan that led to the mercy-rule win thanks to RBI doubles by the both of them.
2. KELLER IS KILLIN' IT: Katie Keller continues to make history in her collegiate softball career. Over the past two days, Keller went 6-for-9 against DePaul and St. Thomas, including two more doubles, giving her eight on the season, to stand alone at fourth on the all-time NCAA career doubles list with 80. In the second St. Thomas game, Keller etched her name in the record books with an inside-the-park home run followed by an outside-the-park home run later in the game. The inside-the-park four-bagger was the first recorded in Wisconsin softball history.
3. BANNON IS BACK: Peyton Bannon had been sidelined with an injury for a stretch of five games during the start of the Big Ten season, however, has been back and back and better than ever since the start of the Purdue series. Against DePaul and St. Thomas, Bannon tallied five hits, five runs, and five RBI. The DePaul and second St. Thomas game was the outfielder's first two multi-hit games of the year. In Tuesday's matchup, Bannon sent her first home run of the season out of Goodman diamond to plate three runs for the Badgers. In the second game of the doubleheader, the Illinois native roped a 2 RBI triple past the Tommies' outfield, along with two more singles in Wisconsin's loss.
4. SCOUTING THE OPPONENT: Northwestern is currently the only ranked Big Ten team in the conference, sitting at No. 20/22 in the country. Deservedly so, as the team has only lost one Big Ten game during a doubleheader against Iowa and is 25-9 overall on the season. Northwestern impressively beat Texas, who was ranked No. 6 at the time, along with two other ranked teams against No. 18 Kentucky and No. 19 Auburn, twice. Nikki Cuchran leads the team with a .354 batting average after accumulating 34 hits in 96 at-bats. However, Angela Zedak may be the big hitter to watch out for as the senior has a team-high eight home runs and a slugging percentage of .619. Northwestern is first in the conference at the moment, whereas Wisconsin sits two spots below them at third, but with big games for all of the top teams coming up, rankings could be shifted at any point.
5. UP NEXT: The stretch of home games continues after the Northwestern series as the Badgers will host the University of Minnesota for a doubleheader on Wednesday, April 19 starting at 3:00 p.m. Wisconsin will hit the road days later to face the University of Nebraska for the weekend series.
