Wisconsin Badgers

Feb. 18 vs. Georgia Southern W, 3-2 (8) Feb. 18 at USF L, 0-5 Feb. 19 vs. Drake W, 8-0 (6) Feb. 19 vs. Arkansas L, 1-5 Feb. 24 vs. #25 Florida State L, 0-5 Feb. 24 vs. Southern Illinois W, 12-3 (6) Feb. 25 vs. St. John's W, 3-0 Feb. 25 vs. Maryland L, 3-4 Feb. 26 vs. #25 Florida State L, 1-2 Mar. 2 vs. UConn W, 5-3 Mar. 2 at Charleston Southern W, 3-2 (8) Mar. 3 vs. Kansas L, 0-4 Mar. 9 vs. San Diego W, 9-3 Mar. 9 vs. Nevada W, 11-9 (9) Mar. 10 vs. San Diego L, 9-10 Mar. 10 at Nevada W, 8-5 Mar. 11 vs. Nevada W, 7-1 Mar. 16 at UC Santa Barbara W, 4-0 Mar. 16 vs. San Jose State L, 0-9 (5) Mar. 18 vs. Oklahoma St. L, 0-1 Mar. 24 at Iowa W, 1-0 Mar. 24 at Iowa L, 3-4 Mar. 25 at Iowa W, 5-4 Mar. 31 NORTHWESTERN W, 12-5 (6) Mar. 31 NORTHWESTERN L, 6-10 (8) April 1 NORTHWESTERN L, 3-8 April 3 at UIC W, 5-0 April 4 at Loyola Chicago W, 3-1 April 4 at Loyola Chicago W, 8-4 April 6 MINNESOTA W, 3-0 April 7 MINNESOTA W, 5-1 April 7 MINNESOTA W, 11-10 April 10 WESTERN ILLINOIS W, 12-11 April 10 WESTERN ILLINOIS W, 7-1 April 14 at Illinois W, 8-0 April 14 at Illinois L, 7-8 April 15 at Illinois W, 10-7 April 21 PENN STATE W, 4-1 April 21 PENN STATE W, 8-0 (5) April 22 PENN STATE W, 9-0 (5) April 25 INDIANA STATE W, 8-0 (5) April 25 INDIANA STATE W, 9-7 April 28 at Purdue L, 2-7 April 28 at Purdue W, 7-1 April 29 at Purdue L, 5-6 May 1 BRADLEY W, 2-0 May 2 GREEN BAY W, 4-0 May 2 GREEN BAY W, 5-2 May 5  #23 MICHIGAN L, 1-5 May 5  #23 MICHIGAN L, 5-7 May 11 at Nebraska W, 3-1 May 11 at Nebraska L, 4-6 May 12 at Nebraska L, 1-4     2 Whitney Massey Jr. IF/OF 3 Mary Massei So. OF 4 Megan Tancill Fr. IF 5 Maggie Strange Jr. C 6 Venessa Nunez So. UT 7 Molly Spence Jr. C/1B 8 Cassandra Darrah So. P/IF 9 Shannel Blackshear Jr. 3B 10 Maria Van Abel Fr. OF 12 Michelle Mueller So. IF 13 Kendra Wright So. OF 17 Kendall Grimm Jr. OF 18 Amanda Oberc Fr. P/1B 20 Amanda Najdek So. P 21 Meghan McIntosh Jr. P 22 Stephanie Peace So. IF/OF 28 Kelsey Horton Jr. UT 31 Marissa Mersch Fr. OF 32 Karla Powell Sr. 1B/DP

Badgers wrap up the season
Timely hitting, including a home run by Karla Powell, led the Wisconsin softball team to its first-ever win over Nebraska on May 11. The win snapped the Huskers’ 16-game home win streak.

The Badgers fell in the second game of the doubleheader, 6-4 and lost the last game of the regular season, 4-1.

Wisconsin finishes with 34-19 record    

The game one win of the doubleheader against Nebraska gave Wisconsin it’s 34th win of the season, tying a school record set in 2000. The 19 losses this season are the fewest in UW history and Wisconsin’s .641 winning percentage is a program best.

Conference wins
The Badgers set a new mark in the record books with their 12th Big Ten win of the season against Purdue on April 28. Wisconsin recorded win No. 13 on May 11 at Nebraska to finish the year with a 13-10 record in league play. 

UW’s .565 Big Ten winning percentage ranks third-best in program history. In 2002, Wisconsin recorded an 11-6 (.647) league record.

Badgers in the Big Ten
Wisconsin finished the year tied for sixth with Purdue in the Big Ten with a 13-10 record. Michigan finished on top of the conference, posting an 18-5 record.

UW’s 34 wins ranked second in the league behind Michigan’s 39. The Badgers’ 19 losses were the second fewest in the league, as Michigan was the only other team to record fewer than 20 losses with 15.

The Badgers finished second in the Big Ten with an overall team batting average of .300 and ranked fourth with a 2.73 ERA. The Badgers recorded the third-most hits (420) and fourth-most doubles (73). Wisconsin led the league with 59 sacrifice bunts and ranked third with 87 stolen bases.

Wisconsin’s .296 batting average in league games was fourth, while its 3.15 ERA was fifth. Kendall Grimm batted .407 and Cassandra Darrah recorded a 2.50 ERA, both were fourth-best marks in league play.

Home field advantage
The Badgers played 18 games at Goodman Diamond, winning 14. The 14 home wins ranks second-best in school history, one win behind the 15 home games the 1997 squad won.

Road tripping
Wisconsin won a school-record 14 road games, passing the mark of 11 set by the 2005 team. Twenty-one of Wisconsin’s 53 games were road games, while 14 were at neutral sites. 

Strength of schedule
Wisconsin finished the year ranked 54th in the RPI ranking. The Badgers debuted the season at No. 77, dipping to No. 83 in the second ranking, before jumping to No. 58th in the third ranking. The Badgers received their highest ranking, No. 46th, in the sixth RPI of the season on April 30 following the Purdue series.

Doubling up
Junior second baseman Whitney Massey finished the season with a UW single-season and Big Ten-best 22 doubles, leading the nation with 0.42 doubles per game.

Massey doubled four times in the series at Purdue to set a new UW single-season doubles record, breaking Boo Gillette’s mark of 14 set in 2004.

Going streaking
The doubleheader sweep against Green Bay at Goodman Diamond on May 2 marked the 12th and 13th-straight home wins for Wisconsin, setting a new home win streak record.

With the series-opening win over Illinois on April 14, Wisconsin set the UW all-time win streak record, defeating opponents in nine-straight games. The Badgers posted wins against UIC, Loyola (2), Minnesota (3), Western Illinois (2) and Illinois. A year ago, the Badgers tied the school record with an eight-game win streak, March 12-18.

The Badgers ended a five-game road win streak on Sunday, April 15. The five-game streak was the second-longest road game winning streak in a single season in UW history.

Scoring more matters
With 272 runs scored this season, UW broke the previous school record of 240 set in the 2005. The Badgers out-scored opponents 272-194 and posted a 26-6 record when scoring the first run. 

Earning wins fast
The Badgers became the fastest team in program history to reach 30 wins when they defeated Purdue in the second game of the doubleheader on April 28. UW reached the 30-win mark in its 44th game of the season, four games quicker than any other UW team.

Wisconsin reached the 25 win mark in record speed with a win over Penn State in game one of the doubleheader on Saturday, April 21. The Badgers reached win No. 25 in their 38th game, just ahead of the 2002 team which reached the mark in its 39th game.

Wisconsin recorded 20 wins in just 32 games, marking the fourth time in program history it had achieved 20 wins in 32 games. In 1999, 2001 and 2007, Wisconsin won its 32nd game of the season to improve to 20-12. In 2002 the Badgers reached the 20 win mark in just 29 games, while in 2000 they reached 20 wins in their 30th game.