Wisconsin Badgers start conference play strong

The Wisconsin Badgers started their conference slate at Michigan State last weekend, going 2-1 to start Big Ten play.

During those three games, they played really good softball but also committed too many errors for a team that plans on competing for the BIG Ten Championship.

In the first game, the Badgers played a clean game in a 5-3 victory, lead by Skylar Sirdashney’s two-run homerun.

Game two would go to the Michigan State Spartans in an 8-3 loss. The Badgers committed two errors, but the Spartans’ bats were putting the ball in play. You could watch that game and give credit to the Spartans, but also say the Badgers' errors committed caused runs to be scored.

Game 3 was all Badgers from the fifth to seventh innings.

Wisconsin was down 2-0 going into the fifth inning, but a four-run fifth inning put the Badgers up 4-2 behind a Katie Keller 2-run homer.

After the 5th, the Badgers would go on to score 5 more runs over the final two frames of the game. The game would end 9-3 in favor of the Badgers.

Badgers would get the win, but four errors in the game is too many errors for my liking.

I won’t complain much about the errors, because they blew the game open with 9 runs. However, the Badgers continue to kick the ball around and it will come back to haunt them later in the season against better teams.

The Badgers would then have to cancel two games against Green bay this week due to poor weather conditions.

The home opener against the University of Illinois Fighting Illini went as planned for the Badgers.

Despite the wet field, the Badgers and Fighting Illini played the game. The Fighting Illini would jump ahead in the top of the 1st by a score of 2-0.

The lead didn’t last long as the hottest bat in the lineup stays hot.

Kayla Konwent hit a two run shot in the bottom of the first inning to tie the game. That would be Konwent’s 7th home run of the year.

The game would be tied until the 4th inning until Ellie Hubbard hit the go ahead home run to take the lead 3-2.

What a way to hit your first home run Ellie, congrulations, plenty more to come!

The Badgers would tack on another 3 runs in the 5th inning on a two-run double by Brooke Kuffel, and an Ellie Hubbard double that would score one.

The game would end in favor of the Badgers 6-2.

In the game, starting pitcher Tessa Magnanimo would go on to pitch a career game. It was a career-high nine strikeouts by Magnanimo in a strong seven innings, allowing only two runs.

The Badgers are now 3-1 in league play after 4 games. Their next game was schedule for today, but due to weather, the game has been postponed until Sunday April 2nd.

The Badgers will play a double header on Sunday starting at 11 A.M. CT.