March 18, 2007
COLUMBIA, Mo. -- After a day off at the Tiger Invitational because of snow, No. 7 Northwestern came out Sunday morning and hit three home runs in a 12-1, five-inning win over Columbia College.
The win improves Northwestern to 18-5 on the season, 3-0 at the Tiger Invitational. All three of the Wildcats' wins at the tournament have been in run-rule fashion. Columbia College, an NAIA program, falls to 0-3 at the event with the loss.
In the top of the first, sophomore Tammy Williams (Roscoe, Mo./Osceola) clubbed a solo home run to left to open the scoring. The blast was her seventh of the season and the 21st of her career, giving her sole possession of third place on NU's career list.
Senior Garland Cooper (Mission Viejo, Calif./Santa Margarita Catholic) then drew a five-pitch walk before freshman Nicole Pauly (Palatine, Ill./Palatine) launched her second home of the season to left to give the Wildcats a 3-0 lead.
In the top of the second, freshman Kelly Dyer (Homer Glen, Ill./Lockport) led off with a single to second base, then stole second. Junior Darcy Sengewald (Frankfort, Ill./Lincoln Way East) and senior Katie Logan (Tempe, Ariz./Corona del Sol) both followed with walks to load the bases.
After a pair of fielder's choice grounders erased two runners at the plate, Pauly drew a walk to force in Logan and make the score 4-0. The base on balls forced starter Meghan Bailey (3-4) from the circle in favor of Katie McMahon for the Cougars. Sophomore Erin Dyer (Homer Glen, Ill./Lockport) then came to the plate and singled back up the middle to score Williams and Cooper -- who were on base after each hitting the fielder's choice grounders -- to make the advantage six, 6-0.
With Pauly on third after the single, senior Jessica Miller (Elberfeld, Ind./Techumseh) hit a hot-shot grounder to short that got through because of an error to plate Pauly and give the Wildcats a 7-0 lead.
Another 'Cat crossed the plate in the third. Sengewald led off with a ground ball to the pitcher, but the throw to first got away for an error and put Sengewald on second. She moved to third when Williams singled through the left side of the infield, then scored on a Cooper RBI groundout to make the score 8-0.
Columbia got a run back in the bottom of the third. After a walk and a sacrifice, a single into the outfield was bobbled allowing the runner to come around and score on the error to cut the lead to seven, 8-1.
In the fifth with a lot of defensive substitutes in the ballgame, the Wildcats scored four more runs. Sophomore Jessica Rigas (River Forest, Ill./Oak Park River Forest) led off with a single, then moved to third when Williams doubled for her third hit of the game.
With two outs, sophomore Gina Gonzalez (LaVerne, Calif./Bonita) launched a three-run home run to left to make the score 11-1. The homer was the second of Gonzalez's season and career. Both have been three-run jobs.
Erin Dyer then hit a double into right field before coming around to score on a Julia Sears (Chicago, Ill./Marist) single to right, making the score 12-1.
Freshman Lauren Delaney (Jefferson City, Mo./Helias) earned the win in the circle for Northwestern, moving to 10-0 on the season. She fanned 12 batters, allowing one unearned run on two hits and a walk.
Williams finished 3-for-4 with a double, a home run and three runs scored. The game marks the third-consecutive contest Williams has scored three times. Pauly and Cooper both scored twice Sunday morning, while Pauly and Gonzalez both drove in three runs and Erin Dyer added two RBIs on a pair of hits.
Northwestern returns to action at approximately 2:30 p.m. CT today, Sunday, March 18, against Missouri in a game re-scheduled from Saturday's Tiger Invitational slate.