Great teams, regardless of sport, find different ways to win. It doesn’t matter if it’s a close win decided by one singular swing of momentum or a blowout, decided long before the end of the game. In the case of the Husky softball team, they got their 4 wins this week in a variety of ways, but at 30-6, with 20 straight wins, it looks like this team is on its way to joining that pantheon of great teams, in large part due to how they win.
Before the big road series against Iowa, the Huskies had a quick
road stop against Loyola Chicago. A Giselle Alvarez solo shot in the fifth got the scoring started, but the game really broke open when Kaycie Burdick hit her first career home run, a grand slam:
Another shot from Alvarez, and another homer from Burdick pushed the score to 7-0, where it would stay, giving the Huskies the win and extra momentum for another tough conference road trip against the Iowa Hawkeyes. The first game would not start well, with the Dawgs falling behind 3-0 by the top of the third inning. Jade Bubke and Jaydn Glab responded with a solo home run, and 3 run home run respectively, pushing the Huskies in front 4-3. After Iowa’s Naiyln Marshall responded with a solo homer to tie the game at 4, the Huskies responded with a fierce 7 run 4th inning rally. It started with Alexis Deboer drawing a walk with the bases loaded to give the Huskies the lead, 5-4. Then Giselle Alvarez scored Jade Bubke on a sac fly, with Kaycie Burdick subsequently scoring on a wild pitch. What broke this one open, though, wasn’t a big, back-breaking homer or hit in the gap, but a throwaway E4, which scored 3. Like I said at the top, great teams find ways to win.
After Melody Acevedo’s sac fly scored Ava Carroll to make it 11-4, the Huskies gave up 1 run in the bottom of the fifth, before a pair of homers by Alvarez and Carroll made it 16-5. Though Iowa scored 2 more in the 7th to make it more respectful, it wasn’t enough, as the Huskies ultimately prevailed 16-7.
The Huskies would continue their offensive explosion in game 2, putting up 10 runs on 11 hits. But perhaps more impressive than the run total, was the combined no hitter tossed by Sophia Ramuno and Rylee Rehbein. Ramuno worked 5 and 2/3rds innings, throwing 90 pitches and fanning 6 Hawkeye batters. However, with Ramuno an out away from a no no, she came up wincing, necessitating Rehbein to come in to come up with a final out, which she did:
Offensively, Jaydn Glab continued her stellar campaign, scoring 2 runs and driving in a run off a double. Kaycie Burdick also had a great game, going 2-4, scoring 2 runs and driving in another of her own. This kind of at-will offensive firepower will prove troublesome for teams as the Dawgs get deeper in the Big Ten schedule. But don’t think that this series was all combined no hitters and relentless offense! Sometimes you have your back against the wall, sometimes you go to extras, like in the series finale.
This was a back and forth game, with both teams answering each other’s offense. After the game was knotted up at 4 after the third (thanks to a 2 run shot by Jaydn Glab), both teams went back and forth, with one run each until the 6th. Tied at 6 all, it would take until the 10th to break the deadlock:
With the Hawkeyes on the ropes and clearly shaken, the Huskies loaded the bases, and Giselle Alvarez got hit by a pitch, bringing home Sophi Mazzola. A Jaydn Glab single drove in 2 more runs, and Morgan Reimer shut the door on Iowa, sweeping the series for the Dawgs and earning her 19th win:
At 30-6, the Huskies are on another road trip this week, as they head to Palo Alto to take on Saint Mary’s and Stanford. I am eager to see if they can extend this remarkable 20 game win streak, and with the way they have been playing and winning, I am hopeful that they will be able to. Because, as I said at the top, great teams find ways to win!
