Years from now, the 2006 UW softball season may be looked back on as the second beginning for a program in only its 11th year in existence.

UW graduated six seniors from the 2005 squad and Karen Gallagher — the first and only head coach of the program — resigned after last season. In their place stepped a talented freshman class and a coaching staff with a track record of winning.

To date, UW has compiled a 20-20 record, with a somewhat disappointing 4-9 mark in Big Ten play. Coming into the season, new head coach Chandelle Schulte had set a mark of 11-10 in conference play as what the team was shooting for.

As mediocre as this season has been in the wins and losses columns, the team did experience its share of ups and downs. On the good side, a win over Miami (Ohio) gave the team a five-game winning streak coming back home from a spring break trip to California; on the other hand, a crushing loss just last weekend against Penn State all but killed the Badgers' chances of appearing in the Big Ten tournament. After pitching 6 2/3 innings of shutout ball, pitcher Eden Brock surrendered a three-run walk off home run to give the Nittany Lions the win.

Assistant coach Martha McCall said the Penn State loss was hard on the coaches and the team. "You see the kids come out ready to play, fired up, they know what they have to do. … That was a tough one to handle."

Moreover, the loss took another of the team's stated preseason goals — to qualify for the Big Ten tournament — out of Wisconsin's hands. UW must now sweep Iowa this weekend and get a lot of help from around the league to qualify for the tournament.

Schulte came to UW fresh off a record year at the College of Charleston. Under her tutelage, the Cougars went from a conference bottom dweller to two-time conference champions and participants in the 2005 NCAA tournament. Previous to the College of Charleston, Schulte turned around the program at Charleston Southern.

At each stop — including this year — Schulte has noticed some common themes throughout the first season.

"Ironically, it's all the same the first year," Schulte said during an April press conference. "No matter where you are, you have trials and tribulations. … I learned when I was a younger coach that you can't come in and you can't expect [players] to embrace everything you have at once."

McCall, who played for Schulte in Schulte's first year at College of Charleston, agrees with the head coach's observation.

"Very similar, very similar," McCall said when asked to compare the two seasons. "[Just by] the fact that we finished about .500 there and the fact that the games we lost, half of those we could have won. You look at our team, I think you can say the same thing.

"[Winning] just takes experience and getting used to each other and a new style of play," McCall continued. "Will it be different next year? Definitely."

Next year's team will benefit from returning plenty of experience. Offensively, UW was paced by leadoff hitter and centerfielder Sam Polito. Polito has hit .333 and stolen eight bases while starting every game this season.

UW also got big offensive contributions from a pair of sophomores. Joey Daniels (.312) and Katie Hnatyk (.301) gave the middle of the UW lineup some punch.

Hnatyk's nine home runs this season put her in excellent shape to break the school's all-time dinger mark of 18 before her career is over.

The UW pitching staff struggled at times while amassing a 3.78 ERA. Eden Brock (17-12) emerged as a workhorse in her first year as team ace, starting the last 12 games to date and compiling a 3.38 ERA.

Freshman Leah Vanevenhoven (2-7) also was a major contributor in the pitcher's circle, appearing in 22 games and tossing three complete games.