Michelle Batts has been making teams pay for pitching around Adrienne Monka, driving in 20 runs in NU's last 13 games.Michelle Batts has been making teams pay for pitching around Adrienne Monka, driving in 20 runs in NU's last 13 games.

Northwestern Series at Wisconsin Changed to Saturday Doubleheader

April 7, 2011

Northwestern's Wisconsin Game Notes (PDF Format) Get Acrobat Reader

WATCH BOTH GAMES LIVE AT BigTenNetwork.com!

EVANSTON, Ill. -- After stepping out of conference for four contests in the last five days, Northwestern jumps back into Big Ten play this weekend with a doubleheader Saturday at Wisconsin.

The doubleheader marks a change from the originally scheduled single games on Saturday and Sunday due to thunderstorms forecasted for Sunday. Saturday's action will get underway at 12 p.m. CT.

The Wildcats opened the Big Ten season with a home series against Michigan in March, but then went 4-0 in nonconference, Chicagoland games against Loyola (Chicago), DePaul and Northern Illinois. NU swept a doubleheader, 6-0 and 6-3, from the Ramblers before edging the Blue Demons, 6-5, and taking out the Huskies, 8-2. All four of those games were at Sharon J. Drysdale Field in Evanston and concluded a six-game homestand.

After the Loyola wins, senior Jessica Smith earned her second Big Ten Pitcher of the Week award this season. She fanned a career-best 12 batters in a 6-0 shutout, allowing just two hits and facing the minimum 27 batters to continue a stellar senior season as the Wildcats emerging ace in the circle.

Sophomore Emily Allard has continued to crush opponents, running her current hitting streak to 18 games (the current NU record is a 24-game streak by then-sophomore Tammy Williams from Feb. 25 to April 8, 2007). Allard has failed to get a hit in only three of Northwestern's 27 games this year. In the 'Cats four nonconference games last week, Allard batted .625 with 10 hits, eight runs, five RBIs and six steals.

Also on pace to shatter several Northwestern records this year is junior Adrienne Monka, who is first in the nation with a .676 on-base percentage and second with 1.20 walks per game. Despite her danger, she's still receiving over 2.0 at-bats per game because her protection in the lineup, senior Michelle Batts, is on fire, slugging five home runs and compiling 20 RBIs while batting .349 in Northwestern's last 13 games.

(For Northwestern's complete Wisconsin series game notes package, download the .pdf at the top of this page)

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