March 2, 2008
CARBONDALE, Ill. -- Sophomore Lauren Delaney (Jefferson City, Mo./Helias) fired her second one-hit shutout of the weekend and No. 6 Northwestern got a pair of solo home runs Sunday to defeat Southern Illinois, 3-0.
The win improves Northwestern to 10-3 overall on the season, 3-1 at the Coach B Classic. Southern Illinois' loss drops it to 10-6.
Delaney (8-2) allowed only a fifth-inning bunt single in the ballgame, surrendering one walk and hitting a pair of batters while striking out nine.
Southern Illinois put together a solid threat in the bottom of the second inning, getting runners at second and third with one out following a walk, a wild pitch, a fielder's choice bunt and a steal. Delaney fanned the next batter before shortstop Tammy Williams (Roscoe, Mo./Osceola) ranged to her right and reached down to snare a soft liner to end the inning with no damage done.
Northwestern put the game's first run across in the top of the third. With one out, freshman Kelly Quinn (Northbrook, Ill./Glenbrook North) was hit by a pitch, then senior Darcy Sengewald (Frankfort, Ill./Lincoln-Way East) sacrificed Quinn over to second. Williams then shot a two-out single into left field to score Quinn from second and give the Wildcats a 1-0 lead.
Delaney was cruising in the ballgame, not allowing a hit through the first 4.2 innings of play until the Salukis got a bloop bunt single that fell just beyond the reach of a diving Robin Thompson (Detroit, Mich./Martin Luther King) at third. Delaney then coaxed a pop up to Nicole Pauly (Palatine, Ill./Palatine) at second to end the fifth. As an example of how well Delaney was throwing, it took just seven pitches to get out of third after the sophomore fanned the first two batters on six pitches before getting a can of corn fly ball to right to end the inning.
Williams gave the Wildcats another run in the top of the sixth, going opposite field with a Nikki Waters (4-2) offering and depositing it over the fence to kick off the frame and give NU a 2-0 lead. The blast was her third of the season and her second of the day after she also went yard against Western Illinois. The junior now has 33 career homers, moving her into a tie for 10th on the Big Ten all-time chart.
In the top of the seventh, sophomore Kelly Dyer (Homer Glen, Ill./Lockport) repeated Williams' feat, launching a soaring solo home run to center that was held up in the wind but still found enough umph to get over the fence for a 3-0 Northwestern lead. The blast was Dyer's third of the season.
Williams finished the game 2-for-2 with two RBIs and a run scored, reaching base in all four of her plate appearances.
Northwestern returns to action at 11 a.m. CT Friday, March 7 against Rutgers at the Long Beach Invitational in Long Beach, Calif.