The Wisconsin softball team takes the field Friday at Goodman Diamond for the first time since October. After 35 straight road games and two games canceled due to wet field conditions, Wisconsin (10-25) hosts Purdue (25-10) in its home opener.

Also scheduled for the weekend is a Saturday matinee with Purdue and a doubleheader Sunday against Indiana (9-23).

The home opener was pushed back from Wednesday’s scheduled doubleheader versus Loyola to Friday’s game with Purdue due to wet field conditions and ice remaining near the dugouts.

“It was a little disappointing,” junior infielder Alexis Garcia said. “The weather was really nice, and we were kind of excited to start playing at home. The field just wasn’t ready.”

After starting the Big Ten season with four straight road losses, the Badgers hope to get off to a hot start at home.

“Playing at home is a special place,” assistant coach Julie Wright said. “You want to win at home and keep these people coming back. We’re ready for a new start, and we’d like to do it here.”

The players believe the key to a good weekend lies in being ready from the opening pitch.

“We need to come out ready to play all over, taking it one pitch at a time,” Garcia said. “That will eventually get us one game and then that next game start the same exact thing.”

Unfortunately, the Badgers haven’t exactly been ready of late.

“Last weekend, we learned that you just can’t come out and not be ready to play,” sophomore Katie Soderberg added. “We need to come out harder.”

The Badgers are getting ready for the home stand by thinking less and keeping things simple.

“You know, there’s the ball, go get it,” Wright said. “Here comes the ball, put a nice short, compact swing on it. People have been over-thinking in their at-bats and out there in the field and pitching-wise, and that just hasn’t been working for us.”

In addition to being well-prepared, the Badgers will need a major increase in offensive production. Last weekend’s road trip resulted in only five runs for the cardinal and white, including two shutouts in four games.

“We need to get a little better in each pitch and each at-bat,” Wright said. “Execution is going to be big for us. What we need to do is to move runners 60 feet to the left. If you don’t move them up, you’re never going to plate them.”

Purdue has enjoyed much success at the plate, batting .290 as a team and outscoring its opponents 159-115 in 35 games.

Leading the way offensively for the Boilermakers has been junior shortstop Candice Curtis. Curtis boasts a .357 batting average and leads the team with 27 RBIs.

For Indiana, its story is much the same as that of Wisconsin’s. The Hoosiers’ lack of run production — they have been outscored by more than 80 runs this season — has led to a disappointing start in Bloomington.

As the Badgers get ready for their first home stand, teamwork by way of individual focus has been a point of emphasis in trying to improve their play as a whole.

“Our main thing is ‘Do your own job on the field. You’re not going to do everybody’s job,’” Soderberg said. “We don’t just have one good player. We need to come together as a team.”

As focused as they have been this week in practice, the Badgers also have shown a lot of enthusiasm and excitement about finally playing in front of their home crowd after such a long time on the road.

“They’re just giggling like little kids and running around all over the place,” Wright said. “Everybody’s just happy to be on their own field and see the Goodman Diamond, see the red, see the W’s everywhere.”