Feb. 17, 2008
TEMPE, Ariz. -- In a crazy, back-and-forth game fitting of getaway day Sunday at the Kajikawa Classic, No. 6 Northwestern survived a late scare from Nebraska with a four-run sixth inning to defeat the Huskers, 8-6.
The win pushes Northwestern to 4-0 on the season and completes the first undefeated opening weekend of play in program history. Nebraska falls to 1-4 with its loss.
Nebraska kicked off the game with a leadoff walk in the top of the first, then sacrificed the runner over to second. With two outs, the Cornhuskers hit a single into right field where freshman Jordan Wheeler (Garden Grove, Calif./La Costa Canyon) picked it up and fired a dart to Erin Dyer (Homer Glen, Ill./Lockport) at the plate to mow down the runner trying to score to end the inning.
Northwestern pushed across the first run of the game in the bottom of the third inning. Junior Tammy Williams (Roscoe, Mo./Osceola) hit a one-out single to second for her second hit of the ballgame, then moved to third on a single into center by sophomore Nicole Pauly (Palatine, Ill./Palatine). Pauly took second on the throw to third.
Freshman Michelle Batts (Bloomingdale, Ill./Glenbard North) was hit by a pitch to load the bases, then junior Jessica Rigas (River Forest, Ill./Oak Park River Forest) hit a dribbler back to the circle. The throw home to force Williams was high, and she slid under the foot of the catcher to score NU's first run of the game.
A bases-loaded walk to Kelly Dyer (Homer Glen, Ill./Lockport) forced home Pauly, then an illegal pitch call allowed Batts to come home to make the Wildcats' lead 3-0 after three.
A trio of leadoff walks from Northwestern starter Lauren Delaney (Jefferson City, Mo./Helias) in the fourth led to a pair of Husker runs before a fielder's choice groundout, a pop out to left and a comebacker ended the inning with NU still on top, 3-2.
Northwestern added another run in the bottom of the fifth. Rigas drew a one-out walk, then was replaced by pinch runner Robin Thompson (Detroit, Mich./Martin Luther King). With two outs in the inning, Kelly Dyer hit a grounder to third, but the throw to first went wild, and the blazing fast Thompson never stopped on the base paths, coming all the way around to the plate to make the score 4-2.
Nebraska tied the game, 4-4, in the top of the sixth after a leadoff walk was followed one out later by a home run to right center. Another walk and another home run later, the Huskers owned a 6-4 lead headed into the bottom half of the frame.
Northwestern immediately mounted a four-run rally of its own in the bottom of the sixth. Back-to-back leadoff walks to Wheeler and Darcy Sengewald (Frankfort, Ill./Lincoln-Way East) were followed by a towering drive to right-center by Williams. The ball bounced off the glove of the Husker center fielder as she crashed through the temporary fence, landing over the fence line, but the umpires ruled it stayed in play despite both fielder and ball ending up beyond the fence.
After Williams' "single," Nebraska starter Tori Tyson was replaced in the circle by Alex Hupp.
With the bases now loaded, Pauly lifted a ball just beyond the reach of a charging second baseman and just inside the foul line past first base for a single, scoring Wheeler. An RBI groundout by Batts scored Sengewald, then another RBI groundout from Rigas sent Williams home to give NU the lead back, 7-6. With Pauly now on third, Erin Dyer roped a single into left to add an insurance run, 8-6.
Williams finished 3-for-4 in the game and 11-for-14 (.786) on the weekend. She scored twice against the Huskers. Pauly added two hits and two runs for NU, while Kelly Dyer had a pair of base knocks.
Delaney toughed out the complete-game victory to move to 3-0 on the young season. She allowed six earned runs on five hits and eight walks with seven strikeouts.
Northwestern returns to action at 8 p.m. CT Friday, Feb. 22, against Oregon at the Palm Springs Classic in Cathedral City, Calif.