April 4, 2009
EVANSTON, Ill. -- No. 8 Northwestern run-ruled Indiana, 8-0 (5), Saturday in the second game of a doubleheader that gave Wildcat coaches Kate Drohan and Caryl Drohan the 300th win of their careers together in Evanston. The game also featured the second NU home run of the day to reach the roof of McGaw Hall, this one clubbed by Erin Dyer (Homer Glen, Ill./Lockport).
The Drohans have a career record of 300-126-1 in their eight years in Evanston. NU is 204-68 since 2005.
Northwestern improves to 22-7 overall on the year with the victory, 8-0 in the Big Ten. The Wildcats have won 11 games in a row, their best streak since a 12-game winning stretch in 2007. Indiana falls to 5-26 on the year, 1-5 in the conference with its loss.
One game after Nicole Pauly (Palatine, Ill./Palatine) hit the second home run onto the roof of McGaw Hall in Sharon J. Drysdale Field history, Dyer performed the extraordinary feat for the second time in the same day. Michelle Batts (Bloomingdale, Ill./Glenbard North) singled up the middle to lead off the bottom of the second before Pauly was hit by a pitch, setting the stage for Dyer's shot. It was a little more toward left-center than Pauly's was earlier in the day, going directly over the covered staircase attached to the wall of McGaw.
Dyer's blast joins Pauly's from earlier Saturday and Jessica Miller's from March 31, 2007, as the only roof shots in Drysdale Field annals. The home run was Dyer's ninth of the year and the 38th of her career. Incidentally, Pauly's roof job earlier in the day also was her ninth of the year and the 38th of her career.
The inning was not over for NU after the homer, either. Kelly Quinn (Northbrook, Ill./Glenbrook North) hit a one-out single to center, prompting Indiana to replace starting pitcher Ashley Hobbs (1-9) with game one starter Sara Olson. Jordan Wheeler (Garden Grove, Calif./Los Alamitos) greeted Olson with an RBI triple into the gap in right center, then one out later came home when the fourth ball of a walk to Tammy Williams (Roscoe, Mo./Osceola) got by the catcher for a passed ball to make the score 5-0.
Northwestern starter Lauren Delaney (Jefferson City, Mo./Helias) pitched out of trouble in the top of the third. With runners at second and third and one out, Delaney got a shallow pop up to Quinn in right before a ground ball to third ended the frame.
Quinn led off the bottom of the fourth inning with a double to deep center before Wheeler joined her on the base paths via a walk. A fielder's choice grounder from Robin Thompson (Detroit, Mich./Martin Luther King) erased Quinn at third before Williams crushed an Olson offering on a rope into the right-field bleachers to push the game into run-rule territory, 8-0.
Williams' shot was her 10th of the year, giving her double-digit home runs in all four of her collegiate seasons. She has 52 home runs in her career, three shy of Garland Cooper's all-time NU record. It also was her fifth homer in conference play through eight games.
Sophomore Jessica Smith (Encinitas, Calif./La Costa Canyon) entered the game in the circle for Northwestern to begin the fifth inning, making her first appearance of the year after suffering an injury during the offseason. Smith made quick work of the first two batters before the third beat out an infield single to first. She then retired the side on a fly ball to right to end the scoreless frame.
Delaney threw four innings, allowing no runs on four hits and one walk with three strikeouts. She now is 21-6 on the year.
Quinn was 2-for-2 in the game, Wheeler scored twice and both Williams and Dyer drove in three runs each.
Northwestern returns to action at 2 p.m. CT Wednesday, April 8, in a doubleheader at Minnesota that will be televised live on the Big Ten Network.