May 18, 2008
EVANSTON, Ill. -- No. 19 DePaul broke through in the final innings Sunday in the championship of the NCAA Evanston Regional to force an if necessary game at Sharon J. Drysdale Field with a 3-2 win over No. 11 Northwestern.
The Wildcats advanced to the championship final out of the winner's bracket while the Blue Demons came from the loser's bracket, meaning DePaul needs two wins Sunday to advance to the Super Regional round.
The loss snaps Northwestern's current 29-game home winning streak dating back to April 15, 2007, and is NU's first to DePaul at home since 2001. NU is 39-14 overall after the loss, while DePaul improved to 51-17 on the year with its win.
DePaul threatened right away in the top of the first against Delaney, putting runners at first and third with no outs after a leadoff double followed by an infield single. The Blue Demons ran into the first out of the frame when the runner at first left early on a steal attempt, then Delaney got a strikeout for out number two. A sharp grounder to freshman Robin Thompson (Detroit, Mich./Martin Luther King) ended the frame.
Northwestern then put runners on in its first turn at the bat, as well. With one out, junior Tammy Williams (Roscoe, Mo./Osceola) sent a seeing-eye single through the right side of the infield, then moved to second on a Michelle Batts (Bloomingdale, Ill./Glenbard North) walk. DePaul starter Becca Heteniak also was able to escape trouble, ending the frame with a K and a fly out to left.
The Blue Demons again put two runners on in the top of the second after a pair of one-out NU errors, but Delaney got out of trouble with a pair of strikeouts. Continuing to play with fire, the 'Cats allowed the two leadoff Demons in the third to reach before a popped up sacrifice attempt accounted for out number one. The next batter followed with a line drive to Williams, who leapt to glove it before firing to sophomore Nicole Pauly (Palatine, Ill./Palatine) covering at second to double off the runner for an inning-ending twin killing.
With everyone threatening to score, Northwestern finally pushed the game's first runs across in the bottom of the third. Senior Darcy Sengewald (Frankfort, Ill./Lincoln-Way East) led off with a grounder deep into the hole at short, forcing a bad throw from DePaul that caromed into the dugout for a two-base error. Sophomore Aly Euler (River Forest, Ill./Oak Park River Forest) replaced Sengewald at second as a pinch runner, then trotted home one out later when Williams launched her 11th home run of the season over the fence in dead center to give Northwestern a 2-0 lead.
The top-10 USA Softball Player of the Year finalist now has 41 home runs for her career, ranking second all time at NU.
In the bottom of fourth inning, DePaul replaced Heteniak in the circle with Lindsey Dean. A leadoff single from sophomore Kelly Dyer (Homer Glen, Ill./Lockport) followed by a passed ball put a Wildcat at second with no outs against the new hurler, but no runs would come across.
DePaul finally ended Delaney's scoreless innings streak at 40.0 when it broke through to tie the game, 2-2, with two outs in the top of the fifth. A leadoff walk and a single by the Blue Demons preceded a sacrifice bunt to put runners at second and third. After Delaney notched her fifth strikeout of the game, a single into center plated both runners for DePaul.
The runs were the first given up by Delaney in the entire postseason, and were the first overall dating back to the third inning of a May 4 home contest against Michigan State.
In the top of the seventh, DePaul leadoff batter Amber Patton reached with her third hit of the game, then moved to second on a sacrifice bunt. She then stole third before Delaney got a groundout to short that held Patton at the bag while accounting for the second out of the frame. After DePaul catcher Jackie Tarulli-Fisher, who hit the game-tying single in the fifth, drew a walk, DePaul got a single back up the middle to drive in Patton and give it a 3-2 lead.
Sengewald led off the bottom of the seventh with a solid base hit into center, then was lifted for pinch runner Ashley Lafever (Bettendorf, Iowa/Pleasant Valley). On a soft ground ball by freshman Jordan Wheeler (Garden Grove, Calif./Los Alamitos), Lafever was called out for interference after the second baseman moved into the base path to field the ball. Now with one out in the frame, Wheeler moved to second on a wild pitch, then to third on a groundout from Williams.
Dean (9-3) then issued a walk to Batts before DePaul brought Heteniak back into the circle. She earned a strikeout to preserve the win for DePaul and pick up her fourth save on the year.
Delaney (36-9) allowed three runs on eight hits and four walks with seven strikeouts. Williams led NU at the plate with two hits and two RBIs.