May 2, 2004
EVANSTON, Ill. -- Michigan returned a grand favor to Northwestern, which could not hold on to a pair of late leads in the second game of Sunday's doubleheader at Sharon J. Drysdale Field, beating the Wildcats 7-3 in eight innings.
The Wildcats held one-run leads in the sixth and eighth innings, but both times the pesky Wolverines would not go away. Tiffany Haas ended the game with a walk-off grand slam in the bottom of the eighth to give Michigan the victory. NU freshman Garland Cooper hit a grand slam of her own in the first game to give the Wildcats a 6-4 win over UM.
With the score tied at two in the top of the eighth inning, senior J.C Kira led off with a single and advanced to second on an error by the Wolverine left fielder. Fellow senior Carri Leto then doubled off the wall in center to plate Kira and give the 'Cats the 3-2 lead.
The double was the 34th of Leto's career, tying her with Anne Carpenter and Kelley Green for second place all-time at Northwestern.
The Wildcats could not hold on to the lead, however, as Grace Leutele led off the bottom of the inning with a solo shot off NU starter Courtnay Foster (13-13) to knot the game at three. After walking the next batter, Foster gave way to Eileen Canney, who earned her 16th win of the season in the first game of the double-dip. Two batters later Haas hit her grand slam to give Michigan the victory.
"I think we battled hard today against a very good team," NU head coach Kate Drohan said," but I would like to see our pitchers make some tougher pitches late in games."
With Northwestern holding a 2-1 advantage in the bottom of the sixth, Monica Schock hit a solo shot off Foster that would send the game into extra innings.
Down 1-0 in the top of the second inning, the Wildcats got three consecutive doubles from Cooper, Kristen Amegin and Eryn Manahan to give NU its 2-1 lead. All three Northwestern seniors (Kira, Leto and Manahan) recorded hits in the final home game of their careers. Cooper finished 2-for-2 with a pair of intentional walks while Jamie Dotson also collected two hits in the game.
Northwestern's record falls to 29-15 with the loss, 11-7 in the Big Ten. Michigan improves to 46-9, 17-3 in the conference. Jennifer Ritter, who took the loss in game one, earned the win in relief for the Wolverines to up her record to 20-5.
The Wildcats return to action Wednesday with a doubleheader at DePaul beginning at 3 p.m.