March 21, 2010
COLUMBIA, Mo. -- No. 3 Missouri scored single runs in five-consecutive innings starting in the second frame of Sunday's DeMarini Invitational finale, defeating Northwestern, 5-1, in a game moved into the Tigers' practice football facility due to rain and ice outside.
Missouri now is 22-3 overall on the season with its win while Northwestern falls to 12-11 on the year with its loss.
For a primer on indoor softball at Missouri's Devine Pavilion, check out the recap from Sunday's first game (a 6-0 win over Northern Colorado) and also view this Twitpic.
Northwestern put the game's first rally together in the top of the second inning. Michelle Batts (Bloomingdale, Ill./Glenbard North) drew a leadoff walk before giving way to pinch runner Aly Euler (River Forest, Ill./Oak Park River Forest) at first. One out later, Nicole Pauly (Palatine, Ill./Palatine) also earned a walk from Missouri stater Chelsea Thomas. An infield single that died right in front of the pitcher's circle from Kelly Dyer (Homer Glen, Ill./Lockport) loaded the bases still with one down, but a pair of strikeouts ended the frame.
Missouri immediately seized on the momentum of escaping the Northwestern threat with a solo home run to lead off the bottom of the second, taking a 1-0 lead. The Tigers got two more runners on in the inning, but Wildcats' starter Lauren Delaney (Jefferson City, Mo./Helias) fanned a pair to end the frame and give her four strikeouts through 2.0 innings of work.
Missouri added to its lead in the third. Runners reached second and third with no outs before Delaney got a groundout to second, but the next batter lined out to center and Dyer's nearly perfect throw home hit the foot of the sliding runner to extend the Tiger cushion to two, 2-0, on the sacrifice fly. Mizzou eventually made it four innings in a row with a single run on the board, getting an RBI single in the fourth and a bases-loaded walk in the fifth to make it 4-0. Though unable to keep the Tigers from scoring, Delaney did well every time to limit the rallies to single scores.
Northwestern loaded the bases in the top of the sixth in the exact fashion it did in the second inning, but this time with no outs. Kristin Scharkey (Yorba Linda, Calif./Esperanza) drew a leadoff walk followed by a walk to Adrienne Monka (Rancho Cucamonga, Calif./Rancho Cucamonga). Kelly Quinn (Northbrook, Ill./Glenbrook North) entered to run for Monka. An bouncy infield single for Batts loaded the bases with no outs.
Emily Haug (Jefferson City, Mo./Helias) put the first Thomas offering in play to second, driving in Scharkey with the RBI groundout to put Northwestern on the board, 4-1. Pauly fell victim to the ceiling rule when a ball off her bat clunked off a beam for out number two, allowing Missouri to eventually escape the inning still with a three-run lead, 4-1.
The Tigers got that run back in their half of the sixth when the leadoff runner reached on a bunt single, eventually moving around and scoring on a two-out wild pitch to make it 5-1.
Delaney (5-7) took the loss, allowing five runs on six hits and six walks with seven strikeouts in 6.0 innings of work. Allard led Northwestern at the plate with a pair of base hits in the game.
Northwestern returns to action at 4 p.m. CT Tuesday, March 23, at Southern Illinois -- Edwardsville.