May 18, 2008
Box Score
EVANSTON, Ill. -- After No. 19 DePaul took No. 11 Northwestern to an if necessary game Sunday afternoon in the championship of the NCAA Evanston Regional at Sharon J. Drysdale Field, the Wildcats came back out and held off the Blue Demons in a 3-2 decision to advance to the Super Regional round of 16.
The Wildcats are making their fourth-consecutive appearance in the Super Regionals, having won their Region every year since the NCAA switched to the current format in 2005. NU will play Arizona State, winners of the Tempe Regional, in Tempe next weekend. The first game is scheduled for 7 p.m. CT Friday, May 23, with game two at 3 p.m. CT Saturday, May 24. The if necessary game would immediately follow Saturday's contest. ESPNU will televise the entire Super Regional.
Northwestern now is 40-14 overall on the year with its win, while DePaul closes its season with a 51-18 record.
Game one starters Lauren Delaney (Jefferson City, Mo./Helias) and Becca Heteniak mowed down the opposition to start game two, blowing through three complete scoreless innings in just 26 minutes.
With the game's pace going wicked fast, freshman Jordan Wheeler (Garden Grove, Calif./Los Alamitos) put in one of the day's best at bats to lead off the top of the fourth for NU. The left fielder battled through an extended plate appearance, fighting off several foul balls before lacing a 2-2 pitch into right field for a single. Junior Tammy Williams (Roscoe, Mo./Helias) then made it count, sending a soaring home run over the fence in center to give the Wildcats a 2-0 lead.
The blast was Williams' second of the day -- a near carbon copy of her dinger from game one -- and gave her 12 on the year and 42 for her career.
In the bottom of the fourth, DePaul loaded the bases with one out on a leadoff error, a walk and a hit by pitch. Delaney then got a foul out to Williams down the left-field line before ending the frame with a soft liner that Williams easily gloved.
After avoiding damage from the Blue Demons, the Wildcats did a little of their own in the top of the fifth. Freshman Kelly Quinn (Northbrook, Ill./Glenbrook North) worked an 0-2 count into a full count before singling back up the middle to lead off the frame. She would then move to second on a sacrifice bunt by freshman Robin Thompson (Detroit, Mich./Martin Luther King).
Wheeler then stepped up huge again, ripping a two-out double into the gap in left center to score Quinn and make NU's lead three, 3-0.
DePaul cut its deficit to one in the bottom of the fifth, getting a pair singles before a two-out double to the fence in left made the score 3-2.
Heteniak (33-8) silenced the NU order in the sixth and seventh to set the stage for another dramatic bottom of the seventh inning. DePaul's leadoff batter dinked a single over the NU infield before another slap single up the middle put runners at second and third on the throw to the third-base bag.
Delaney then recorded a strikeout for the first out of the frame before she corralled a come backer and fired to the plate to nail the runner for out number two. On the play, the runner at second moved to third, but that became a moot point when Delaney fanned the final batter to send Northwestern to the Super Regionals.
Delaney allowed two runs on six hits and one walk with four strikeouts, two of which came in the final inning. Wheeler led NU at the plate with a 2-for-3 effort, scoring once and driving in a run. Williams knocked in two for the 'Cats.