May 12, 2006
EVANSTON, Ill. -- No. 1 seed Northwestern earned a victory in its first-ever home Big Ten Tournament game Friday morning at Sharon J. Drysdale Field, disposing of the No. 8 seed Illinois, 4-1, to advance to the tournament semifinals.
The Wildcats now are 41-11 overall on the season, while Illinois concludes its year with a 24-31 record. Northwestern will face the winner of No. 4 Ohio State and No. 5 Penn State's match-up later Friday afternoon in the tournament's second semifinal game at 11:30 a.m. Saturday morning.
The game was the third in a row between the two teams, which faced each other in the final regular-season weekend.
Northwestern now has a 14-game home winning streak dating back to last season, tied for the longest in the nation.
The Wildcats scored the first run of the game in the first inning. With one out, freshman Tammy Williams (Roscoe, Ill./Osceola) drew a walk, then moved to second when junior Garland Cooper (Mission Viejo, Calif./Santa Margarita Catholic) singled through the right side. Senior Jamie Dotson (Santa Ana, Calif./Foothill) was hit by a pitch to load the bases, still with just one out.
A fielder's choice erased Williams at the plate before senior Sheila McCorkle (Costa Mesa, Calif./Mater Dei) singled through the left side of the infield to score Cooper and give the 'Cats a 1-0 lead.
In the top of the second inning, Illinois put runners on second and third with no outs on a walk and an error, but Northwestern starter Eileen Canney (Paradise, Calif./Paradise) struck out the next three batters at the plate to end the inning. The first of those three whiffs gave her 300 for the season, making her just the second Wildcat to ever strike out that many in one year. All-American Lisa Ishikawa was the only other NU hurler to whiff 300, doing so in 1984 when she set the then-NCAA single-season record with 469.
The Wildcats added another run in the bottom of the second when senior Ashley Crane (Sammamish, Wash./Eastlake) unleashed her fourth home run of the season to lead off the frame.
Also in the inning, Cooper was issued a two-out intentional walk, her ninth of the season and the 17th of her career to rank her seventh in NCAA Division I history.
To start the third inning, Illinois replaced starter Claire DeVreese in the circle with Kacey Coonce.
In the fourth, the Wildcats' added two more runs to its lead. Junior Katie Logan (Tempe, Ariz./Corona del Sol) ripped a one-out single right back up the middle and through Coonce's legs, then moved to second when Williams singled to short.
Cooper then came up and smashed a double to the fence in right-center to score both Logan and Williams and give Northwestern a 4-0 lead. The double was the 21st of the season for NU's single-season and career record holder, who entered the game ranked sixth in the nation in two-baggers this season.
In the top of the fifth inning, Illinois got a run across after a trio of singles to make the score 4-1. The run was the first surrendered by Canney in her last 21 innings pitched.
After Logan reached on an error and Williams hit her second single of the game in the sixth, Illinois brought DeVreese back into the circle, and she got out of the inning unscathed.
Logan, Williams and Cooper all had two hits and scored a run, while Cooper also drove in a pair of runs.
Canney moved to 21-5 with the complete game victory, allowing one run on five hits and two walks with 10 strikeouts.