University of Minnesota Athletics
University of Minnesota
Wisconsin
Wisconsin Shocks the Gophers in Series Sweep
4/7/2012 12:00:00 AM | Softball
April 7, 2012
The University of Minnesota softball team dropped the final two games of the Wisconsin series on Saturday, 5-1 and 11-10. The Badgers (20-12) are the first team this season to sweep the Gophers (21-13).
Game One: Wisconsin 5, Minnesota 1
Box Score
A four-run third inning for Wisconsin proved to be costly for the Golden Gophers as they dropped the game 5-1. The Badger victory clinched the series win for the Border Battle.
Both offenses remained silent through the first two innings, but in the bottom of the third, the Badgers scored four runs on only two hits and one Gopher error.
Wisconsin scored their first run without even notching a hit as the first two runners reached on a walk and hit by pitch. The first Badger run scored on a Gopher error while the other three were knocked in by a pair of hits.
Minnesota wasn't able to push a run across until senior Dannie Skrove plated in the fifth. Skrove, who led off the inning with a single to right field, was hit in on Bree Blanchette double to center.
Blanchette and Skrove's hits were two of the Gophers' five in the game.
The Badgers would get the run back in the bottom half of the fifth to make the score 5-1. Both teams would remain scoreless the remainder of the game.
Sara Moulton pitched the whole game for the Maroon and Gold as she allowed seven hits and fanned three. Of the five runs garnered by the Badgers, only one was reported as earned.
Game Two: Wisconsin 11, Minnesota 10
Box Score
After having a 10-2 lead going into the bottom of the fourth, the Golden Gophers allowed Wisconsin to score nine unanswered runs to pull off the comeback victory and series sweep.
Minnesota jumped on the Badgers early by scoring four in the first inning on three hits and an error. Each Gopher would get an at bat in the inning as Tyler Walker led off with a double and was the first of four Gophers to score. Fellow freshman Erica Meyer notched the last run as she hit a solo home run to left field.
Wisconsin would answer in the bottom half of the inning with a run and again in the bottom of the second to make the score 4-2.
The Gophers would get back two runs in the third and then four more in the fourth. Junior Alex Davis notched the first two runs in the fourth on her fourth homer of the season. Another pair would score on a Skrove double to center field, making the score 10-2.
The Badgers answered in the bottom half of the inning with four, and they would continue to score five more additional runs with four of them in the seventh to nab the series sweep.
Minnesota now heads home for a mid-week doubleheader against UW Green Bay on Wednesday. The Gophers will then head back on the road to face Northwestern over the weekend.
