March 3, 2007
FULLERTON, Calif. -- No. 8 Northwestern lit up No. 9 Stanford for 17 hits Saturday morning at the Worth Invitational, pounding the Cardinal into submission in an 11-3, six-inning victory.
The Wildcats' 17 hits included three doubles and two home runs, and were the most for NU since a 17-hit outburst on April 30, 2005, during a 14-2, six-inning victory against Michigan State.
Eight Northwestern starters recorded base knocks, with six of them having multi-hit days.
The win pushes the Wildcats' record on the year to 13-5, 3-0 in the Worth Invitational, while the Cardinal falls to 15-5 on the season, 1-3 in the tournament.
Northwestern now is 2-0 on the year against Stanford after winning the teams' matchup in Tempe, Ariz., 3-1, at the season-opening Kajikawa Classic. NU now has run-ruled a pair of Pac-10 foes this year after defeating then-No. 11 California, 10-1 (6), on Feb. 17 at the Louisville Slugger Desert Classic in Las Vegas, Nev.
During head coach Kate Drohan's tenure, NU is 5-1 against Stanford and 20-18 against the Pac-10 as a whole. The win Saturday was No. 199 in Drohan's career.
The game's first inning was a wild one, with both teams combining for six runs and seven hits. The Cardinal scored the first two runs of the game on a Michelle Smith two-run home run to take a 2-0 lead.
Northwestern wasted no time responding to and overtaking Stanford in the bottom half of the frame. Katie Logan (Tempe, Ariz./Corona del Sol) led off with a single, then moved to third after consecutive singles by sophomore Tammy Williams (Roscoe, Mo./Osceola) and senior Garland Cooper (Mission Viejo, Calif./Santa Margarita Catholic).
With the bases loaded and no outs, a fielder's choice grounder to third by Nicole Pauly (Palatine, Ill./Palatine) erased Logan at home but kept the bases loaded. Sophomore Erin Dyer (Homer Glen, Ill./Lockport) followed with a soft single into center that was mishandled, allowing both Williams and Cooper to come around and score to tie the game, 2-2.
With Pauly now at third and Dyer at second due to the error, senior Jessica Miller (Elberfeld, Ind./Techumseh) hit a sharp grounder to Shannon Koplitz at short. Koplitz dove and gloved it, but by the time she was able to get up, all runners were safe to score Pauly on Miller's infield single.
With Dyer now on third, sophomore Jessica Rigas (River Forest, Ill./Oak Park River Forest) hit a high fly ball into center that was caught deep enough to allow Dyer to scamper home on the sacrifice fly for a 4-2 NU lead.
The Wildcats started the bottom of the second inning with five-consecutive hits to add three more runs to their total. Darcy Sengewald (Frankfort, Ill./Lincoln Way East) led off with a single into right, then moved to second on a Logan bunt single.
Williams followed with a soaring home run over the fence in right field to give Northwestern a five-run cushion, 7-2. The blast was Williams' second of the tournament, fifth of the season and the 19th of her career.
Cooper and Pauly both singled after the Williams' homer, but neither would score in the inning.
Stanford got one run back in the top of the fourth when a leadoff walk to Smith turned into a run on a passed ball, but again Northwestern answered after Williams led off the bottom of the fourth with a ground-rule double and scored on Cooper's third single of the game to make the NU lead five again, 8-3.
Though Northwestern continued to pile up hits, it would not score again until the sixth. Pauly hit a one-out double to the gap in left-center, then moved to third when Miller singled through the left side. Rigas then lined her second home run of the season over the fence in left-center field to officially end the contest with a run-rule score of 11-3 (6).
Logan, Williams and Cooper all went 3-for-4 after each earned hits in their first three at bats. Williams also scored three times and drove in three runs, while Logan and Cooper both scored once. For Williams, the game marked the fifth time in her career she has scored three runs in one game.
Pauly and Sengewald both added two hits including a double, while Miller had a pair of singles. Pauly scored twice in the game.
Rigas led NU with a career-best four RBIs, and Dyer drove in a pair as well.
Lost in all the offense was a win for Eileen Canney (Paradise, Calif./Paradise) in the circle. Canney improves to 6-5 on the year with the win after allowing three runs -- two earned -- on five hits with two walks and seven strikeouts in 6.0 innings pitched.
Becky McCullough took the loss for Stanford, falling to 4-3 on the year after going 5.2 innings and surrendering 17 hits and 11 runs -- 10 earned -- with no walks and one strikeout.
Northwestern returns to action tonight, Saturday, March 3, at 8 p.m. CT against No. 11 Oregon State. The game will be audio streamed live on NUsports.com All-Access. To listen, link to the audio/video page on NUsports.com.