June 23, 2004
EVANSTON, Ill. -- Northwestern's 2004 softball team left its mark not only on the national landscape, but in the school record books as well. Seven individual and a pair of team single-season school marks fell while senior Carri Leto littered the career record books with her name en route to the Wildcats' second-consecutive NCAA Tournament appearance and seventh in the program's history.
Facing one of the toughest schedules in the conference -- NU's 30th-ranked RPI was third in the Big Ten behind Michigan and Illinois -- the 'Cats put together a 34-20 overall record, the second consecutive 30-win season under third-year head coach Kate Drohan. Twice during the season the Wildcats rose to No. 25 in the NFCA/USA Today poll, the first times in the poll under Drohan. (NU was ranked No. 28 in the final season poll.) A fourth-place conference finish with a 12-8 record was also a best for Drohan-coached team.
With the fourth seed in the conference tournament, Northwestern wasted no time providing drama against Minnesota on a rain-soaked Alumni Field in Ann Arbor, Mich. Down 2-0 in the bottom of the seventh following a night-long rain delay, sophomore Kristen Amegin first singled home the game-tying run before blasting a three-run, walk-off home run in the bottom of the 11th frame to win the game.
Amegin, Eileen Canney and Leto were named to the Big Ten All-Tournament team.
The Wildcats would lose to eventual tourney champion Michigan State in their next tourney game, but the win versus the Golden Gophers helped secure a No. 3 seed in the Arizona Regional of the NCAA Tournament. With No. 1 Arizona, No. 9 Louisiana-Lafayette and No. 21 Oklahoma also receiving bids to Tucson, Ariz., NU's regional was easily the toughest in the country.
Northwestern opened the tournament with an 8-1 thrashing of UC Santa Barbara, getting a two-run double from senior J.C. Kira and solo home runs from freshman Garland Cooper and junior Erin Mobley. Sophomore pitcher Courtnay Foster pitched a three-hitter, giving up only one unearned run in her hometown of Tucson.
The Wildcats then ran into perennial power Oklahoma, dropping an 8-0 decision to the Sooners in six innings. NU would bounce back -- once again in dramatic fashion. Down 3-1 to South Carolina in the bottom of the seventh, sophomore Jamie Dotson doubled home one run and Leto hit a two-out, 0-2 RBI single to knot the score at 3-3. Amegin then took center stage again, blasting another walk-off home run deep into the night in the bottom of the eighth.
NU then faced No. 9 Louisiana-Lafayette, whose ace Brooke Mitchell shut down the 'Cats in a 3-0 loss televised nationally on CSTV, the second straight season NU has played on national television. Northwestern's 2-2 record and fourth-place finish at the regional was the Wildcats' best NCAA Tournament showing since 2000, when NU also went 2-2 in regional play.
With its successful season came numerous postseason awards for Northwestern. Canney, who finished the season with a 19-5 record, was named Big Ten Freshman of the Year. Cooper and Mobley earned first-team All-Big Ten kudos while Canney, Leto and Amegin garnered second-team nods. The award was Mobley's second consecutive first-team selection while Leto made her third straight second team.
The same quintet of Wildcats also earned NFCA All-Region honors. Cooper was named a first-teamer while the remaining 'Cats were named to the second team. The five NFCA awards marked the most such honors for Northwestern since 1984 - when the Wildcats won the Big Ten and finished third at the Women's College World Series.
Leto became the third 'Cat in three years to be named to the CoSIDA Academic All-District softball squad. She also became the first Northwestern female athlete to ever be drafted by a professional sports franchise when she was selected second overall by the NY/NJ Juggernaut in the National Professional Fastpitch league's supplemental draft.
Five different Wildcats earned Big Ten Player/Pitcher of the Week awards six times during the year: Foster (twice), Cooper, Amegin, Canney and Sheila McCorkle.
Perhaps the biggest reason for the multitude of awards, in addition to the team's success, were the number of school records broken by this year's team. Cooper, NU's most dominating freshman since All-American Lisa Ishikawa, broke five single-season offensive records: home runs (11), RBIs (44), slugging percentage (.699), on-base percentage (.511) and total bases (102).
Cooper finished with the Big Ten batting title while also leading the league in on-base percentage.
Amegin led the Big Ten and shattered the single-season school mark for walks with 37 while Leto set new single-season (seven) and career (13) standards for being hit by a pitch. As a team, Northwestern annihilated the single-season mark for walks with 189, 51 more than the second-best total in school history. The team also set a new power standard with 33 home runs.
In the career numbers book, Leto placed her name in the top seven in 10 different offensive categories: First in hit by pitch (13); second in doubles (35), triples (14) and total bases (273); third in hits (201); fourth in runs (100) and RBIs (88); fifth in on-base percentage (.358) and seventh in batting average (.313) and slugging percentage (.425).
Foster moved into fourth-place all-time at Northwestern in strikeouts as only a sophomore. She whiffed 229 batters, making her only the second Wildcat in school history to fan more than 200 batters in consecutive seasons.
Northwestern's youth - all but four Wildcats were underclassmen in 2004 - makes its record-breaking ways even more impressive. With its most successful season record-wise in school history and its second consecutive NCAA Tournament appearance, this season served to launch the Northwestern softball program into the ranks of the country's elite.