May 21, 2006
EVANSTON, Ill. -- No. 4 seed Northwestern is feeling pretty Super Sunday, courtesy of a wild, 7-4 victory over Notre Dame at Sharon J. Drysdale Field that advanced the Wildcats into their second-consecutive NCAA Super Regional.
The Wildcats won the Evanston Regional of the NCAA Tournament with a 3-0 record, defeating Southern Illinois, 4-0, and Notre Dame, 9-0 (5) before Sunday's victory over the Irish for the title.
Sunday's win was Northwestern's third of the season over Notre Dame, and extended the Wildcats' single-season wins record to 45 against just 12 losses. The Irish conclude their year with a 42-21 mark.
Northwestern now will face Massachusetts in a best two-out-of-three Super Regional for the right to go to the Women's College World Series. UMass won the Amherst Regional with a 3-0 win Sunday over Lehigh -- a team which eliminated No. 13 seed Texas A&M out of the bracket with a pair of one-run victories.
Northwestern and Massachusetts met earlier this year at the rain-shortened NFCA Leadoff Classic, with the Wildcats earning a 7-2 victory. The series will take place Friday-Saturday, May 26-27 in Evanston. Friday's game will start at 3 p.m. CT with Saturday's contest slated for 1 p.m. CT. The "if necessary" game would start at approximately 3:30 p.m. Saturday afternoon.
As if the fact the game was an NCAA regional championship was not exciting enough, Notre Dame and Northwestern got an already raucous Sunday morning crowd roaring in the first inning.
Notre Dame opened the contest with three runs in the first after a single, double and a two-run home run by Katie Laing.
The Wildcats answered immediately in their half of the first. Junior Katie Logan (Tempe, Ariz./Corona del Sol) answered Laing -- her high school teammate -- with a solo home run on the first pitch Notre Dame starter Heather Booth delivered, cutting the lead to two, 3-1.
Logan's home run was her first of the season and of her career. Out of 135 career hits for Logan, she has 124 singles to go along with nine doubles, one triple and now one home run.
The Wildcats knotted the game in the bottom of the second inning. Freshman Erin Dyer (Homer Glen, Ill./Lockport) continued to eat Notre Dame pitching alive, driving a two-strike pitch through the left side of the infield for a one-out single. Senior Ashley Crane (Sammamish, Wash./Eastlake) then lofted her fifth home run of the season over the left-field fence to tie the score, 3-3.
In NU's 9-0, five-inning win over ND Saturday, Dyer drove in four runs on a pair of doubles.
In the third, the Irish wrestled the lead back with a solo home run, but the 'Cats scored for the third-consecutive inning in the bottom of the frame to tie it again. Junior Garland Cooper (Mission Viejo, Calif./Santa Margarita Catholic) led off the frame with a walk, then moved to third when senior Jamie Dotson (Santa Ana, Calif./Foothill) doubled into the gap in left-center.
Senior Kristen Amegin (West Sacramento, Calif./Elk Grove) then singled into left to plate Cooper and even the score once again, 4-4.
In the bottom of the fourth, Northwestern took its first lead of the game. Sophomore Darcy Sengewald (Frankfort, Ill./Lincoln Way East) led off with a single, then moved to second one out later when freshman Tammy Williams (Roscoe, Mo./Osceola) was hit by a pitch.
Cooper then crushed a double into right-center to score Sengewald and give the 'Cats a 5-4 advantage. Williams motored around the bases from first and appeared to slide by the relay that came in a little up the third-base line, but was ruled to have been tagged and was called out at home.
Cooper's double was the 50th of her career. She holds both the NU career and single-season (23) records for two-baggers.
In the sixth, the Wildcats added some insurance. Logan reached on an error to lead off the inning, then Williams clubbed her 13th home run of the season over the fence in left to extend NU's advantage to three, 7-4.
The blast gives Williams the second-best home run-hitting season in school history, trailing only teammate Amegin's 14 blasts in 2005.
In the top of the seventh, Mallorie Lenn led off with a deep drive into right-center field for Notre Dame. Senior centerfielder Sheila McCorkle (Costa Mesa, Calif./Mater Dei) tracked it down on a dead sprint, reached out and made the catch before crashing into the fence and barreling over backwards. She lost her visor but held onto the ball for a spectacular catch.
Northwestern starting pitcher Eileen Canney (Paradise, Calif./Paradise) finished the game off with a come-backer to herself, flipping the ball to Cooper at first to send the Wildcats to the Super Regional round for the second-consecutive year.
Canney upped her record to 23-6 with the win, allowing four runs on nine hits with 10 strikeouts. She now is tied for sixth on Northwestern's single-season wins list.
Williams finished the game 2-for-3 with two RBIs and a run scored. Logan scored twice in the game while Crane drove in two.