April 16, 2016
IOWA CITY, Iowa — Junior pitcher Elizabeth Wiegand limited Wisconsin to three hits over the final six innings to lead the University of Iowa softball team to a 5-2 series-tying victory Saturday afternoon. The Hawkeyes played in front of a season-high 819 fans at Bob Pearl Field.
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“It was a great day out here,” said UI head coach Marla Looper. “We had a great crowd. They were loud and into this ball game. We gave them a great product today, and we hope to see them all back out here.”
After surrendering a pair of runs on four hits in the top of the first inning, Wiegand (6-9) settled in. The Moscow, Mills, Missouri, native gave up just three hits in the final six innings, and tied her season-high with six strikeouts to earned the complete-game win the circle.
“Liz settled down after that first inning and really got into a groove,” said Looper. “She started believing in her pitches. She settled down and gave us her best stuff today.”
The Hawkeyes found the scoreboard early, plating a run in the top of the first. Juniors Claire Fritsch and Kaitlyn Mullarkey led off the inning with back-to-back singles, before redshirt junior Sammi Gyerman laid down the sacrifice bunt. With runners on second and third and one out, redshirt senior Holly Hoffman plated a run on a 4-3 put out to cut the Wisconsin lead in half, 2-1.
After a scoreless second, the Hawkeyes took the lead in the bottom of the third. Sophomore Katy Taylor reached third on an error by the Wisconsin third baseman to start off the inning. After two quick outs, Gyerman came through with an RBI single up the middle to tie the game, 2-2. Back-to-back hits by Hoffman (RBI double) and sophomore Angela Schmiederer (RBI single) followed to give the Hawkeyes a 4-2 lead.
Iowa added to its lead in the fourth. Freshman Mallory Kilian drew a walk to start the inning, and Taylor moved her into scoring position with a sacrifice bunt. Fritsch followed with her second hit of the day — a single to center — to extend the Iowa lead to 5-2.
Wiegand and the Iowa defense took over from there. The Hawkeyes sent the Badgers down in order in three of the final six innings.
Fritsch led the Hawkeyes at the plate. The Round Rock, Texas, native went 2-for-3 with a pair of singles, an RBI, and a run scored.
The rubber match between the Hawkeyes (12-27; 2-11) and Badgers (22-17-1; 7-5-1) is set for 1 p.m. (CT) tomorrow.
| Iowa 5, Wisconsin 2 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | R | H | E | |||||
| Wisconsin (22-17-1; 7-5-1) | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 7 | 1 | |||||
| Iowa (12-27; 2-11) | 1 | 0 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 0 | X | 5 | 7 | 0 | |||||
| Game Decision | |||||||||||||||
| W: Wiegand (IOWA) 6-9 | |||||||||||||||
| L: Stevens (UWM) 9-8 | |||||||||||||||
