Wisconsin participated in its fourth preseason tournament over the weekend, traveling to Conway, S.C., to play in the Chanticleer Showdown, hosted by Coastal Carolina University.
In addition to a doubleheader with the Chanticleers, Wisconsin matched up with Bowling Green twice and UConn once. The Badgers went 4-1 in the tournament to improve their overall record to 13-7.
The Badgers’ offense put on a show, scoring at least five runs in four of the five games played after doing so just four times in their first 15 contests. Sophomores Alivia Bark, Hilary Blomberg and Danielle Lucey, as well as redshirt senior Emmy Wells led the charge for the Badgers.
Bark notched multiple hits in all five games and went 11-for-19 (.611) throughout the tournament with a pair of doubles and a triple. Blomberg (6-for-17) and Wells (5-for-15) each lifted two home runs despite coming into the tournament without having hit a home run this season. Lucey flashed a blend of power and speed, going 7-for-13 (.538) with a three-run home run – her third homer of the year – and three stolen bases.
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In the circle, graduate students Gabi Salo and Molly Jacobson and junior Shelby Jacobson accounted for most of Wisconsin’s innings. Each of the three pitchers logged a sub-3.00 ERA during the tournament and notched a cumulative 26:2 K:BB, spanning 33.1 innings.
The tournament had no shortage of thrillers. Four of Wisconsin’s five games had a lead change in the sixth inning or later, and one of its matchups went into extra innings.
Wisconsin faced UConn on Friday to kick off the weekend. The Badgers scored five runs in the bottom of the sixth inning en route to a 5-1 win. M. Jacobson pitched all seven innings, and her lone blemish came in the fourth frame when Hope Jenkins clubbed a solo home run.
Four of Wisconsin’s five sixth-inning runs came with two outs. Bark laid a sacrifice bunt down the first base line with one out to allow Emma King to score from third and tie the ballgame. Three batters later, Bojan laced an RBI single to put Wisconsin ahead before Lucey iced the game with a three-run home run.
Game 2 also came down to the wire, as it took three ninth-inning runs to down the Chanticleers 6-4. Salo threw a complete game, yielding four runs, with two earned, on nine hits and no walks with five strikeouts.
With the bases loaded and two outs during the top of the final frame, CCU pitcher Nicolette Picone threw a wild pitch. In an effort to get the stealing Schlosser out at home, the Chanticleers’ catcher committed a throwing error that allowed senior Ellie Hubbard to score as well before Salo closed the door in the bottom half of the inning.
Wisconsin struggled early in Game 3, as Bowling Green chased Badgers starter freshman Kendra Lewis in the first inning after scoring three runs. S. Jacobson came in for Lewis and pitched the rest of the way, punching out 11 batters and allowing just two runs.
Wisconsin faced a 5-2 deficit entering the bottom of the sixth inning before the bats came to life. Blomberg led off the inning with a solo homer and both freshman Hannah Conger and Lucey reached safety before Bowling Green recorded an out when Kuffel put down a sacrifice bunt. Hubbard tied the game at 5-5 with a sacrifice fly, then Wells put the Badgers ahead on a two-run homer. S. Jacobson threw a one-two-three seventh inning.
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Coastal Carolina gave the Badgers a taste of their own medicine in Game 4, scoring four runs in the bottom of the sixth frame to defeat Wisconsin 4-3. After tossing five scoreless innings, M. Jacobson got hit hard in the sixth. She forced back-to-back flyouts to start the frame but yielded a single, a home run and a double to consecutive batters before being replaced by Salo. Still ahead by one, Salo gave up a game-tying double to the first batter she faced, then a game-winning RBI single before ending the inning.
Wisconsin had a rematch with Bowling Green to close out the weekend, blowing the Falcons out 10-2. Salo started in the circle and allowed just one run – a first-inning solo homer – over four innings. Already leading 2-1 entering the fifth frame, the Badgers pulled away. Wells launched a two-run home run and both Kuffel and Conger hit RBIs in the five-run inning. Wisconsin put up three more runs in the sixth inning when Blomberg plated Schlosser and Bark on a roundtripper.
The Badgers will remain in the Midwest next weekend, facing off against Northern Illinois and Southern Illinois in the Saluki Invitational before conference play begins on Mar. 14 in a trip to Urbana-Champaign to face off against Illinois.