Sam Kuchta

Numbers and sports go hand-in-hand, but rarely, if ever, does a singular number or statistic tell the entire story of a player, game, or season. However, a collection of numbers and statistics, well now that’s a different story. 

Before the Badgers open Big Ten Tournament play this Wednesday in East Lansing against Minnesota, let’s take a look back at a wild season, one filled with broken records, star-like performances, and plenty of ups and downs, through the lens of the 7 numbers that best defined this Badgers softball season.

10 – The number of home runs hit by Kayla Konwent

The return of slugger Kayla Konwent to this Badgers lineup added some much-needed firepower to this team. Konwent returned from missing the entirety of the 2020 and 2021 seasons to lead Wisconsin in pretty much every single meaningful hitting statistic (Average, Slugging %, OPS, Walks, Hits, On-base% just to name a few) on her way to being named First Team All-Big Ten. 

There are several reasons I chose to highlight Konwent’s home run total from this year, the first being that her 10th and a final home run of the season put her on top of the Badger’s all-time home run list. Konwent’s 32nd career home run she hit in her final game at Goodman Diamond put her ahead of Wisconsin great Chloe Miller as the Badger’s career home run leader.

Beyond that, I also chose to highlight this number because Konwent was the only Badger this season to reach multiple-digit home runs; in fact, she was the only Badgers hitter to finish with more than 5 home runs on the season. This lineup mustered only 28 home runs on the season, good enough for 10th in the Big Ten, and it was a huge reason the Badgers were only able to score 220 runs this season (also good enough for 10 in the Big Ten). So while Konwent’s return and subsequent domination was a much-needed boost for this Badgers team, it wasn’t enough to make up for the lack of power their lineup had overall.

61- The percentage of Badger’s innings pitched by Maddie Schwartz

Wisconsin Badger’s pitchers pitched a total of 305 innings throughout the 2022 season. Senior Maddie Schwartz pitched 187 and a third of those, which equates to just over 61 percent of the total innings pitched number. No other Wisconsin Badger pitcher pitched more than 63. Maddie’s 36 appearances and 26 starts also led all Badger’s pitchers by a wide margin. 

Maddie Schwartz dominated on the mound for large stretches of this season for the Badgers; as their lone, true starting pitcher, Schwartz sky-rocketed her way to the top of Wisconsin’s pitching stats: accumulating a 22-10 record with a 2.39 ERA, 1.23 WHIP, and 115 total strikeouts. Schwartz also picked up 12 wins against the Big Ten this season, breaking a Wisconsin record for most in-conference wins for a single season. Her 16 complete games this year is tied for 5th in the Big Ten, and she leads all Big Ten pitchers in innings pitched in conference play. Schwartz has been as steady an anchor for this Wisconsin team as any other player.

When Schwartz was on, she was on, but when she was off, well that made life a little bit more difficult for the Badgers. When Schwartz wasn’t her usual self, Wisconsin had few reliable options to turn to inside the circle. Junior Tessa Magnanimo finished the season with an ERA under 3, but only pitched just over 46 total innings on the season; no other Wisconsin pitcher had an ERA close to being under 3. When the Badgers had to move off of Schwartz and rely on some of their other arms, things didn’t typically go very well. Schwartz has had to do it all for the Badgers this year, and she is arguably their most important player heading into the Big Ten tournament. If she can consistently pitch like the ace she has shown to be, Wisconsin will be able to play with anyone, but if she gets roughed up, the Badgers may find themselves scrambling for options. 

60 – The number of errors committed by the Badgers

The Badgers finished the 2022 season third in the Big Ten in errors committed, but that alone doesn’t do enough to tell you just how bad their defense was at times this season. In their final series of the season, against nationally-ranked Michigan, the Badgers committed 3 errors in the first game of the series, 2 in the second, and a whopping 4 in the last one. Those extra outs helped Michigan’s offense demolish Wisconsin pitching as they scored 29 total runs in that series compared to Wisconsin’s 12. 

Few things can kill a successful team like mental errors and poor defense. When your pitcher is struggling, when you’ve been in an inning for what seems like forever, or if you’re in a jam, errors can be the deciding factor in who wins games. If Wisconsin wants to make a run this year, they will need to clean up their defense. 

7 – The number of home wins the Badgers had this season

2022 was the first season in which crowds at Goodman Softball Complex faced no restrictions due to COVID; these Badgers got to play in front of full crowds for the first time since 2019, meaning a good number of players on this team had never gotten to experience that before. Prior to the team’s disappointing final series against Michigan, the Badgers had absolutely dominated at home. Coming into that series, the Badgers were 7-2 at Goodman, earning them a home winning percentage that would have rivaled some of the top teams in the Big Ten. While the last home series disappointed, this Wisconsin team clearly got a boost from the Badgers faithful at Goodman, and it was clear that this team relished playing in front of their fans again. 

4-8 – Wisconsin’s record against teams that finished ahead of them in the Big Ten

Earlier this season when I wrote about the Badger’s remarkable turnaround from this year to last year, I pointed to their record against the top teams in their conference as a large reason for that turnaround. Well, it just so happens to also be a large reason for the Badger’s late-season slide. The Badgers finished 8th in the Big Ten standings when it was all said and done, and a large reason for that was how they performed against the teams that finished ahead of them in the standings. 

Despite season series victories against Penn State and Nebraska (including a game that ended a Cornhusker 18-game winning streak), Wisconsin typically did not perform well against the upper echelon of the Big Ten. Arguably the two worst series of the season for the Badgers came against Illinois and Michigan (teams who respectively finished 3rd and 4th in the Big Ten) where the Badgers got swept in both series, scoring more than two runs only one time in those six games. While it was clear that the Badgers were significantly more talented this year than they were last year, and while they showed that they could play competitively with the top teams in their conference, they didn’t have the firepower or overall talent to truly overtake them. Until this happens, Wisconsin will consistently finish outside of the top of the Big Ten. 

304 –  The total number of Badgers strikeouts

While Wisconsin did see marginal improvements in their hitting statistics in 2022, they still had a few glaring problems with their bats. Their 304 strikeouts were the second-most in the conference, just four behind Purdue’s 308. Perhaps an even more glaring number is that the Badgers finished with just 305 total hits on the season, meaning they had about as many hits as strikeouts on this season as a whole. 

Despite leaders such as Kayla Konwent and Fiona Girardot having spectacular seasons, the Badgers rarely were able to string together long innings or put up crooked numbers on the scoreboard. An aggressive approach at the plate can often pay dividends for a team, but the Badgers have tried to swing themselves out of their hitting woes all season, and it has not worked for them yet. They will need to cut down on these strikeouts moving forward if they want to have success in the Big Ten Tournament.

12-11 – Badgers conference record

The last number we will talk about is the overall conference record for the Badgers this season. A 12-11 record was good enough for 8th in the Big Ten, making it the second consecutive season that the Badgers will finish outside of the top five in the conference. Sometimes a team’s record might not be the best indication of how good that team actually is, but in this instance, this Badgers record feels remarkably appropriate for this team. 

2022 saw the Badgers take major steps forward in performance and competition, and perhaps if they had won a game or two of that last series against Michigan, I wouldn’t be as sour about this, but this team showed consistently that they still have a ways to go. 

Overall, this Badgers season will be one to remember for a while, and despite Wisconsin never truly being dominant, they sure were fun, and sometimes as a sports fan, that’s all you can ask for.