MADISON, Wis. – Omaha softball closed its regular season in impressive fashion Friday, knocking off Big Ten member Wisconsin, 3-1, in a non-conference matchup at Goodman Diamond. During the game, the Mavericks learned they had earned at least a share of the Summit League regular season crown as St. Thomas fell to North Dakota State in the nightcap of the doubleheader in St. Paul, Minn.
The Mavericks (36-10) and Badgers (33-20) were scheduled to play a doubleheader, but the second game of the twin bill was cancelled due to weather in the area and field conditions.
The win gives Omaha a season sweep of Wisconsin – as the Mavericks also beat the Badgers, 7-0, back on Feb. 14 at the Florida Gulf Coast Invitational in Fort Myers, Fla. – and the Mavericks handed Wisconsin just its third home loss all season, as the Badgers fell to 13-3 at Goodman Diamond in 2025.
In Friday's game, Omaha – which closes the regular season with 15 wins in its last 16 games – got the scoring going in the top of the second when
Sammy Schmidt singled with one out, moved to third on a double by
Ava Rongisch and came home on a sacrifice fly by
Marra Cramer to give the Mavericks a 1-0 lead.
An inning later, Omaha doubled its lead with another run.
Maggie O'Brien led off with a double, moved to third on a
Rylinn Groff groundout, and came home on another sacrifice fly – this one off the bat of
Sydney Thomason – to make it 2-0 Omaha.
Wisconsin got a run back in the bottom half of the third and the score stayed 2-1 Omaha until the fifth, when the Mavericks put together a two-out rally to plate an insurance run and widen their lead to 3-1. After the first two batters of the inning were retired, O'Brien singled, Groff drew a walk and Thomason was hit by a pitch to load the bases. After a 15-minute rain delay,
Haley Wilwerding drew another walk to bring home O'Brien to put Omaha in front, 3-1.
Omaha starter
Maddia Groff (23-4) and the Mavericks' defense took things from there, retiring the last eight Wisconsin batters in a row to close out the win. Groff threw her 15
th complete game of the season, allowing one run on five hits with 13 strikeouts and two walks.
O'Brien was 2-for-4 with a double and two runs scored for the Mavericks, who totaled four hits in the game. Schmidt (single) and Rongisch (double) had Omaha's other hits in the win.
Omaha now heads to the Summit League Championship May 7-10, hosted by South Dakota State at Jerald T. Moriarty Field in Brookings, S.D. The Mavericks are the No. 1 seed in the six-team tournament and start play at 11 a.m. CT on May 8 against the winner of a May 7 game between the No. 4 and 5 seeds. The seedings and the opening-round pairings for the tournament will be determined later this weekend.
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