Northwestern begins B1G play at 0-1 with the loss, also falling to 11-15 overall on the year. Nebraska now is 17-12 on the season, 1-0 in the conference. The Wildcats and Huskers conclude their three-game series with a 1 p.m. CT doubleheader tomorrow, Saturday, March 24.
Prior to Friday's game, Nebraska had given up just five runs in its previous seven games combined.
After 1-2-3 innings from Nebraska starter Ashley Hagemann and Northwestern hurler Meghan Lamberth (Wildwood, Mo./Lafayette) to start the game, sophomore Marisa Bast (Orange, Calif./Villa Park) led off the top of the second with an absolutely mammoth home run over the Huskers' brand new video scoreboard in left that had just been installed the day before. The shot was her team-leading seventh of the season.
Lamberth worked around a one-out single with a strikeout and a comebacker to end the bottom of the second, then Northwestern's offense got right back to work. Kristin Scharkey (Yorba Linda, Calif./Esperanza) and Emily Allard (Antioch, Calif./Deer Valley) led off the top of the third with back-to-back singles through the right side of the infield. A productive groundout from Adrienne Monka (Rancho Cucamonga, Calif./Rancho Cucamonga) moved those 'Cats up a bag, then, with two outs, Bast shot her third triple of the year just inside the first-base line. Freshman Olivia Duehr (Antioch, Ill./Antioch) followed with a single back through the middle to plate Bast and extend the NU advantage to 4-0.
Nebraska got a run back in the bottom of the third with a two-out single after a one-out triple that Mari Majam (Pine Valley, Calif./Mountain Empire) nearly caught while slamming into the fence in left and losing her glove over the barrier.
With the score now 4-1, Lamberth needed just four pitches to get through a 1-2-3 bottom of the fourth inning before the Wildcats got back into the scoring column. Monka led off the top of the fifth with a solo home run straight over the 225 sign in dead center to extend NU's lead back out to four, 5-1. The shot was her sixth of the year and the 47th of her career.
In the bottom of the fifth, Nebraska mounted a two-out rally to cut Northwestern's lead to 5-3. Back-to-back two-singles came around to score on a double to the fence in center, but second baseman Anna Edwards (La Canada, Calif./La Canada) prevented further runs by moving to her left to snare a hard-hit line drive.
Northwestern took advantage of a Nebraska sixth-inning error to get one of those runs back. Lamberth flipped into the lineup and drew a one-out walk, then Paige Tonz (Peoria, Ariz./Centennial) re-entered to run for her. She was erased on a Scharkey fielder's choice grounder, then Scharkey herself stole second base. With two outs in the frame, Allard hit a tough grounder to short that the fielder made a tremendous play on. The throw got to first in time, but it popped out of the fielder's glove for an error. Scharkey never stopped running on the play, beating the throw home to make it a 6-3 game.
Nebraska answered right back with a solo home run in the bottom of the sixth to again cut the NU lead to two, 6-4.
Bast was hit by a pitch in the top of the seventh but that was the end of Northwestern's offense in the frame. Lamberth then came back to the circle for the bottom of the seventh, getting the first out on two pitches. The next batter singled back through the middle before a double put runners at second and third. At that point, freshman Amy Letourneau (Laguna Niguel, Calif./Santa Margarita Catholic) entered the circle in relief.
The first pitch she threw was called for a strike -- and an illegal pitch, pushing one Husker across the plate and the tying run to third. Northwestern then elected to intentionally walk the batter at the plate. Letourneau coaxed the next batter into a high pop up to Allard at short for the second out, then another walk loaded the bases. The final batter hit a grand slam to give Nebraska the 9-6 win.
Bast led NU at the plate with a 2-for-2 day, driving in three and scoring twice on a home run, a triple, a walk and a hit by pitch.
Lamberth threw 6.1 innings, surrendering six runs on nine hits and a walk with three strikeouts. Letourneau (5-7) took the loss, allowing three runs on one hit and one walk in one-third of an inning.
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