Big Ten Tournament Day Two Recap
Day two of the Big Ten Tournament was scheduled to kick off at 11 a.m. on Friday with a match-up between No. 2 Minnesota and host team No. 7 Wisconsin. But Mother Nature had other plans and caused eight hours of weather and field maintenance delays. Teams and spectators were the first to witness a helicopter brought in to hover over the wet outfield grass before making its way to the infield. After an hour of chopper wind gusts, the field was ruled playable by the umpires and the game was set to resume.
Minnesota, who scored two runs prior to the lengthy rain delay, tacked on four more runs to secure the 6-0 quarterfinal victory. Sophomore MaKenna Partain led the way for the Gophers at the plate by going 3-for-4, driving in one run and scoring three times. The Minnesota offense collected 10 hits on the day and the team will be looking to ride the offensive momentum into the semifinal game on Saturday. Amber Fiser earned the win in the circle after tossing 4.0 innings. Sydney Smith secured the save in her 3.0 innings thrown to close out the game.
Gopher head coach Jamie Trachsel had this to say about the resiliency her team showed after overcoming the weather and a long day at the ball field. “That’s a tough day for anybody and I am really proud of how we handled that. It was a huge team win, great character and the energy was incredible as it was a great way to start the tournament.”
The Gophers and Badgers weren’t the only teams who had to stay mentally checked in on Friday, as the original schedule was set to hold four contests. But due to the weather and lengthy delay in game one, only two more games would be played on the day. No. 3 Indiana vs. No. 6 Illinois and No. 1 Michigan vs. No. 8 Michigan State found themselves battling it out well into the evening.
Indiana vs. Illinois was a pitcher’s duel from the start. Both teams managed to push a lone run across the plate in the second inning, and that is how the score would remain until the bottom of the seventh. Hoosier senior Taylor Uden stepped up to the plate and belted a walk-off solo home run to left field to secure the 2-1 victory and punched Indiana’s ticket to the Semifinals. Junior Tara Trainer tossed a complete game in the circle, allowing just two hits and striking out seven. Indiana moves on and will take on Minnesota on Saturday afternoon.
The final game of the day was between Michigan vs. Michigan State. Just like on day one, the final contest played resulted in upset form, this one major. Michigan State came out on top of this one and earned the 7-0 victory over the number one seed in the tournament. MSU has now eliminated the Wolverines in the Big Ten quarterfinals for the second straight season. Spartan senior pitcher Kristina Zalewski was spectacular in the circle and tossed a three-hit, 10 K, shutout performance, for her 15th complete game of the season.
MSU recorded eight hits and was led by Lea Foerster who finished the night 3-for-5 with a pair of RBI and Kaitlyn Eveland who went 2-for-2 with a pair of walks. The Spartans will face the winner of No. 4 Northwestern vs. No. 12 Iowa on Saturday afternoon.
The final quarterfinal game between Northwestern and Iowa was pushed back to Saturday morning due to the weather and helicopter delay on Friday. The two teams will kick off play at 10:30 a.m. CT with the winner advancing to the semifinals. If the Wildcats advance and then win out in the semifinal round, the championship game will be played following the conclusion of the semifinal round on Saturday evening.
Northwestern boasts a 24-17 overall record in the Big Ten Tournament and has appeared in the championship game five times. The Wildcats won the inaugural tournament in 1982 when it was used to determine the league’s overall champion. The 2018 Wildcats earned the No. 4 seed with a tough schedule, winning series against No. 2 seed Minnesota and No. 5 seed Ohio State. The Wildcats also split with No. 6 seed Illinois and won a pair of non-conference games versus No. 3 seed Indiana, which did not count toward the league standings. Will we see another NU showing in the Big Ten Championship this year? We will just have to wait and see.
Below is the schedule for Saturday May 12, all games will be streamed live on BTN.
Game 1: No. 4 Northwestern vs. No. 12 Iowa @ 10:30 a.m.
Game 2: No. 2 Minnesota vs. No. 3 Indiana @ 1 p.m.
Game 3: No. 8 Michigan State vs. winner of Game 1 @ 3:30 p.m.
Championship Game 4: Winner of Game 2 vs. Winner of Game 3 @ 6 p.m.
