The Big Ten Softball Tournament is finally nearing after being put on pause in 2019 and 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The first regular season following the break, has thrown a wrinkle into the Big Ten standings that we thought we would expect to see. One of the most pleasantly surprising performances has been from the Wisconsin Badgers, and they are hitting their stride at the right time, looking like a dangerous team to face in the Big Ten Tournament.
The Wisconsin Badgers started out strong in their preseason tournaments, beating a ranked University of Central Florida team and a ranked Clemson team. They capitalized on other must win games and but fell short of other early upsets. The Badgers struggled early in the conference season, getting swept by Illinois by scores of 4-1, 4-2, and 7-1. In the series, the Badgers struggled to get on base and score runs. This, however, was the only series of the regular season that the Badgers have lost, and it was in the beginning of April, only their second away conference series. Since the Illinois sweep, the Badgers have had many things going for them.
On Saturday, April 22, 2022, and Sunday, April 23, 2022, the Badgers added to their tournament resume once again, by taking the series over number 25 ranked Nebraska, and snapping the Huskers’ 18 game win streak. With a little over two weeks to go in the regular season, the Huskers sit in second in the Big Ten, behind only Northwestern. This win will prove to give the Badgers the energy they need to finish out the regular season successfully, as the series win over Nebraska took a team effort.
Pitching for the Badgers has been consistent all year, and they are now beginning to capitalize on its success. During the series against Nebraska, senior Wisconsin pitcher Maddie Schwartz claimed her nineteenth and twentieth win of the regular season. This makes Schwartz one of only five Badgers to complete those numbers in a single regular season in program history. Schwartz looks to keep the streak rolling into the Big Ten Tournament.
The Badgers also have senior, Kayla Konwent back in the lineup. In 2019, Konwent was Unanimous First Team All-American, 2019 Big Ten Player of the Year, and Academic All-Big Ten. Konwent did not play last season, but with her .459 batting average and .582 on-base percentage back in the rotation, the Badgers have yet another position on their roster finding extreme success. In the series against Nebraska, Konwent continued to do what she does best, and got on base five times, including four walks. As the Big Ten leader in on-base percentage, Konwent has remained consistent throughout the season, proving to be reliable for her Badger teammates and coaching staff.
With all momentum looking to be favoring the Badgers, they look close out the regular season in a rescheduled series at Minnesota, followed by a home series Michigan. This will be an important stretch for the Badgers as Minnesota and Michigan combined have won the last six Big Ten Tournaments.
Minnesota and Michigan are historically powerhouses in the Big Ten, although both teams find themselves sitting in the middle of the pack this season. Expect Minnesota and Michigan to be hungry against this Wisconsin team, who sit spots above them in current standings as an opportunity to move up in the rankings and to continue their success where they left off before the pandemic.
The Wisconsin Badgers have everything going for them at just the right time to make a deep run in the 2022 Big Ten Tournament. The Badgers have won the tournament only once, in 2013, but this could be their year for the repeat.
In a game that featured plenty of talk, Christaana Angelopulos’ bat spoke the loudest as the sophomore’s two home runs propelled the Badgers to a 6-2 win and a series victory over Indiana on Sunday.
The Badgers claimed the rubber match of this three-game series behind a complete-game performance from pitcher Maddie Schwartz and a five-run sixth inning lead by home runs from Angelopulos and Kayla Konwet.
Wisconsin Heach Coach Yvette Healy had this to say about Angelopulos’ performance,
“She was a spark. She dug deep. She took a big hit earlier in the game and she stayed in it. To put the ball over the fence twice today, that was pretty cool.”
The hit Healy was referring to came in the top of the 3rd inning when a collision occurred at home plate between Angelopoulos and Indiana baserunner Brooke Benson on a rundown. The hit rattled Angelopoulos as it took her several moments to get up after. Following the play, both coaches had extensive and animated conversations with the umpires, with Indiana coach Shonda Shannon eventually being ejected from the game for arguing.
In the next half of the inning, Angelopoulos stepped up to the plate facing a 1-0 deficit. She took the first pitch she saw and launched it to left-center field and over the wall for her first home run of the season.
Angelopoulos, who came into this game with a batting average under .100, cited her teammates’ support as a huge reason for her success, “It really meant everything. I just really appreciate my teammates sticking with me, my coaches sticking with me –I got them and they got me. It’s just super cool to have that spark and going into the rest of the game it was awesome.”
The game would remain tied at 1-1 for the next two innings as neither team could capitalize on their opportunities and both left runners stranded on the base path. Wisconsin pitcher Maddie Schwartz and Indiana pitcher Macy Montgomery kept the game tight by working out of jams and keeping getting huge outs when they needed them.
All of that would change in the bottom of the sixth as Angelopoulos stepped up to the plate with runners on first and second. On a 2-1 count, she blasted a pitch over the center-field wall to put Wisconsin up 4-1 and give the Badgers the lead for good.
The homer riled up a packed Goodman Diamond and a fanbase that had been making noise all game long. “It was awesome. Our fans brought the energy. It was super fun to play behind” Angelopoulos said of the atmosphere the crowd provided.
Senior slugger Kayla Konwet added two more insurance runs later in the inning as she hit her sixth home run of the season to give the Badgers runs number five and six respectively. Senior Maddie Schwartz then finished off her third complete game of the season to earn her fifth win and give the Badgers a series victory.
Wisconsin now owns a 20-8 record with a 5-1 record in conference play, which puts them in a three-way tie for second place in the Big Ten. Their next test will come on the road against Illinois as they face an Illini team coming off of a series win against Minnesota. The Badgers will travel down to Urbana-Champaign to kick off the series on Friday, April 8.
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.
After a 2021 season that saw the UW Badgers softball team finish with an 18-22 record, finish with an 0-9 record against the top three teams in the Big Ten, and finish with a losing record at home, no one would blame you for not having the highest expectations for the 2022 softball team.
Well that is, no one would blame you except for the UW softball team themselves.
At the time this article was written, the Badgers currently possess a 25-12 overall record and sit at 5th place in the Big Ten with a 10-5 conference record. They are quietly creeping their way up the national rankings as well, receiving 8 top-25 votes this past week, and they just completed a series where they took two out of three from nationally ranked Nebraska, who came into the series on an insane 18-game winning streak.
So how did this happen? And just how good are these Badgers after all?
Well, I’m glad you asked! Sit back, relax, and strap it down, because I am about to tell you how this Badgers softball team has turned it around.
Returning Vets Stepping up
Outfielder Ally Miklesh – Credit UW Athletics
The Badgers found themselves in an advantageous position to start this season, as the only regular contributor from last year’s team to not return was pitcher Haley Hestekin. Not only has UW seen their starters from a year ago return, but they have seen them step up their level of play in significant and unexpected ways.
Most notably, senior outfielder Ally Miklesh has taken a gigantic step forward this season; after slashing .240/.313/.288 last season with just 25 hits and a grand total of one home run in 2021, she has taken her game to the next level and is now a leader at the top of the lineup for the Badgers. Through 37 games this season, Miklesh is batting .378/.482/.489 with 36 hits and two home runs; those totals are good for 2nd on the team in average and hits, third on the team in RBI and on-base percentage, and third on the team in on base+slugging (OPS) with an over 300 point improvement in that category.
After the Badger’s weekend series sweep of Michigan State, in which Miklesh batted 5/9 with 6 total RBI and a run scored, Head Coach Yvette Healy spoke on her performance saying “What a weekend for Ally Miklesh had. She was so fun to watch. How fitting for her to be the one.”
Miklesh isn’t the only returning player who has taken a sizable step forward for the Badgers so far this season, however: infielder Lauren Foster has increased her OPS from a 2021 total of .831 to a whopping 1.041 in 2022, good for second on the team. Sophomore Skylar Sirdashney has also shown significant improvement, increasing her average from .222 in 2021 to .284 this year.
These numbers follow a general upward trend for the Badgers lineup as the team has seen an overall increase in team batting average from .244 in 2021 to .267 in 2022, an overall increase in team on-base percentage from .333 to 380, and perhaps most notably, an overall increase team slugging percentage from .392 in 2021 to .421 in 2022.
“Everybody is watching their film, everybody is hitting extra because they want it,” said Healy on her team’s improved offensive performances.
This Badgers team has been more aggressive and hungrier at the plate this year, and it has paid dividends for them so far: in just three fewer games played this season, the Badgers already have scored 48 more runs in 2022 than they did in 2021. This collective improvement from the Badgers lineup has made them a far deadlier team in the Big Ten than first predicted, but it is not the sole explanation for this team’s success.
Just Stars being Stars
Infielder Kayla Konwent – Credit UW Athletics
While the unexpected improvements and contributions from returning players have played a huge part in Wisconsin’s unexpected success this season, any talk of this Badgers softball team would be incomplete without a thorough discussion of their two biggest stars, Kayla Konwent and Maddie Schwartz.
Konwent, who returned after missing all of the 2020 and 2021 seasons, has been on an absolute tear for the Badgers this season, leading them in hits, average, slugging percentage, on-base percentage, RBI, and home runs. Konwent has easily been the most dominant hitters in this Wisconsin lineup (and all of the Big Ten for that matter), and her return has given the Badgers the power threat in their lineup that they desperately missed last year. Konwent has already has more hits and home runs than any Badger had in all of last year.
While Konwent has brought the thunder for the Badgers in the batter’s box, Maddie Schwartz has brought the lightning to the pitching circle. The senior from Minnesota had a stellar 2021 campaign, striking out 111 total batters and finishing the season with an impressive 2.23 ERA and 1.05 WHIP. While her 2022 totals are a bit worse on paper (2.37 ERA, 1.19 WHIP, and 97 strikeouts), her performance and dominance in the circle has not diminished one bit.
Schwartz has pitched 141.2 of the Badger’s 248 innings this year (nearly 57%!!), and in that time she has achieved a 20-5 record, pitched 13 complete games, and held opponents to a batting average of just .248. With Schwartz’s win against Nebraska on April 23, she became just the fifth pitcher in Wisconsin history to achieve 20 wins in a season.
Konwent and Schwartz’s performances have catapulted them towards the top of the Big Ten statistical rankings. Konwent leads all Big Ten batters in walks with 33, and Schwartz’s 20 wins puts her second in the Big Ten in these categories.
These two have provided star power for this Wisconsin team, and they are a significant part of the reason why the Badgers are back to their winning ways after their disappointing 2021 season.
Getting the Job Done
The improvements this 2022 Badgers team have made from last year are most obvious when looking at two crucial statistics: record at home, and record against Big Ten teams.
The Badgers finished 0-9 against the top three teams in the Big Ten in 2021 and finished with a 5-7 record at Goodman Diamond. It goes without saying that it’s hard to be a good team when you both fail to beat other conference teams and fail to get your job done at home.
Those problems have all but disappeared for Wisconsin this year.
This Wisconsin team currently owns an impressive 7-2 record at home, and the only series they have lost to a Big Ten opponent all season was their series loss to Illinois.
The Badgers started 5-1 in Big Ten play this year, their best start of conference play since 2013, and have stacked conference series win after conference series win, including sweeps of Iowa and Michigan State.
Ask any team and they’ll tell you two of the biggest keys to success is to win your games at home and to beat the teams in your division, or in this case conference. The Badgers have done this in an impressive fashion this season, and with the improvements, they’ve seen from their lineup overall, and with the contributions, they have received from their stars, there is no telling just what this team is capable of.
After beginning the season under-the-radar and with few expectations, the UW softball team has returned to pre-covid form, and with just 8 games remaining, they are looking to finish in the top five of the Big Ten for the third time in five years. They will have their work cut out for them though, with a series against Big Ten powerhouses Penn State and Michigan coming up. If this Badgers team has taught us anything, however, it’s to never count them out.
The Badger’s home opener came against Big Ten Rival Indiana, and Wisconsin was able to fight off the Hoosiers on Friday afternoon in the first leg of a 7-inning doubleheader by a score of 7-5.
The game could not have started out much worse for the Wisconsin Softball team, as Indiana’s first batter of the game, Cora Bassett, cracked a hit into right field that dropped safely in front of Wisconsin right fielder, Molly Schlosser, who let the ball get passed her and then slipped when going to collect it and allowed Bassett to round the bases and touch home for a 1-0 lead. They parlayed that into two more runs and left the top half of the first inning with a 3-0 advantage.
The Badgers were not going to roll over easily as this was the team’s first home game with fans since May of 2019 before the Coronavirus pandemic. The added pressure did not seem to affect the players on the diamond, as the team stayed calm and clawed their way back into the game through a balanced attack of power and contact hitting. The Badgers got a run back in the bottom of the first on a fielder’s choice groundout from Skylar Sirdashney, and then cut it to one in the bottom of the third on an absolute missile of a home run from Brooke Kuffel that was gone as soon as it made contact with the bat. The game remained close but the Badgers finally took the lead in the bottom of the 5th on a two-run homer from Fiona Girardot and never looked back.
The Badgers finished strong and grabbed a few insurance runs in the 6th inning off of a two-run double from Peyton Bannon that pushed the score to 7-4 and that was enough for Wisconsin to hold on in their return to Goodman Field. The Badgers received defensive help from a complete game from Maddie Schwartz on the mound and solid defense after a sloppy first inning. This effort was led by great infield play, but no one was better than Girardot over at first base who was able to scoop up a number of bounced throws from the rest of the infield that would have granted extra base runners and on a few occasions would have meant extra runs for the Hoosiers.
This was a great team win from the Badgers despite a quiet performance from their star, Kayla Kronwet who was only able to walk once and reach base one other time after a series against Iowa where she was so dominant that she was walked in eight of her last nine at-bats. Wisconsin will hope to continue this momentum into the second game of the doubleheader and games on Friday and Saturday against Indiana to stay ahead of the pack in the Big Ten.
Following a ten inning, 1-0 win in a Pitchers duel last night, the Badgers Softball team looked to get the offense going early on Saturday against Penn State. They did just that and gave their ace, Maddie Schwartz some run support after ten scoreless innings on the mound yesterday.
Wisconsin started out hot on offense, as Fiona Giradot went deep on the second at-bat of the game, putting the Badgers up early. It has been tough at times finding offensive production outside of the top of the order this season, but today the bottom of the order was huge in the Badger’s victory. Skylar Sirdashney had two hits and an RBI in the eight-hole, and Lauren Foster put the game out of reach in the top of the fourth inning with a two-run bomb to center field. 2019 Big Ten Player of the year Kayla Konwet also came through with two big RBIs on a second-inning single.
The Badgers got consistent pitching through the first four innings from Maddie Schwartz, then after getting up by eight runs, Tessa Magnanimo came in and coasted to the finish, with the only blemish being a solo home run in the bottom of the fifth from Penn State. Schwartz was coming off of a lights-out performance last night, where she went ten shutout innings and struck out eight while only giving up one hit and walking one. Today she did not have her best strikeout stuff but did what she does best, pitch to weak contact. She faced 14 batters and got eight of those batters to ground out in her four innings of action in the first game of today’s doubleheader. She has been a rock for the Badgers all season on the mound, and after getting the win on the mound today, her record comes to 22-5.
Wisconsin has one more game tomorrow against Penn State, then they go to Minnesota on Wednesday for a midweek doubleheader, before wrapping up the regular season next weekend at home against Michigan and hope to gain some momentum before the Big Ten Tournament in East Lansing starting May 11th.
The Badger Softball team has been a pleasant surprise in the Big Ten this season after finishing 18-22 overall last year and 9th in the Big Ten. This season they are 20-11 on the season and tied for 5th in the Big Ten with a chance to gain games this upcoming weekend with a three-game series against last-place Michigan St. A slight tweak to the lineup could be helpful in getting the Badgers a clean sweep this weekend.
Kayla Konwent was the Big Ten’s player of the year in 2019 and was on the way to another great season in 2020 before COVID cut the season short. She sat out the entirety of the 2021 season, but is back this season and lighting up opposing pitchers. She is putting up mind-boggling numbers this year, ranking 1st in the Big Ten with an on-base percentage of .560 (56% of the time she comes up to bat, she ends up getting on base whether that be a walk or hit). She also ranks high in slugging percentage (.733), which is batting average that is weighted to incorporate extra-base hits as more important than singles. Adding up these numbers gives you a number known as OPS (On-Base Plus Slugging) which is now the most used stat in modern-day softball and baseball in determining a player’s impact at the plate. Her OPS is third in the Big Ten at 1.302.
This should be enough to tell the story, which is that she is one of the best power hitters in the Big Ten. Yet she is batting leadoff for the Badgers this season, and we are not seeing her at the best place in the lineup. Konwent has hit seven home runs this season, 4 of them have been solo home runs, meaning that no one has been on base for her to drive home with her powerful swing. I understand the sentiment that having your leadoff batter get on base at an elite rate is important, but more important than that is making sure extra-base hits score runners who are on base. In softball, unlike baseball, you can pinch run for a batter and the batter can re-enter the game, so Konwent’s lack of speed on the base path is not an issue at the leadoff spot where traditional baseball teams like to put their speedy players.
However, It is not like the rest of the lineup is slacking this season when it comes to offensive production. The Badgers have five players who are averaging an OPS above the benchmark for a good hitter which is .800. This should mean that the Badgers could slide Konwent back to either third or fourth in the batting order and rely on productive players like Aly Miklesh (OPS 1.021) and Peyton Bannon (OPS .862) to get on base before Konwent comes up to bat and can knock them in with an extra-base hit.
If the Badgers can start to turn Konwent’s solo home runs into multiple-RBI home runs, Wisconsin has a real chance to compete at the top of the Big Ten this season, as they have already shown after taking two out of three in last season’s series against Indiana, who has been surprising this season and sits right ahead of the Badgers at fourth in the Big Ten.
