UNLV improves to 4-3 on the season with its victory while NU now is 2-6 after notching a pair of victories on Opening Day. Northwestern returns to action at 1:15 p.m. CT/11:15 a.m. PT tomorrow, Sunday, Feb. 15, against Long Beach State at the Wilson/DeMarini Desert Classic.
UNLV opened the scoring in this game with six runs in the bottom of the first against Northwestern starter Amy Letourneau (Laguna Niguel, Calif./Santa Margarita Catholic). Letourneau then kicked off NU's comeback with a leadoff single in the top of the second. Later, with two outs, senior Julia Kuhn (Middletown, N.J./Middletown South) blasted a double to center to score her teammate all the way from first. Senior Olivia Duehr (Antioch, Ill./Antioch) kept the inning alive with a walk, then a wild pitch and an error allowed Kuhn to come around to make it a 6-2 game.
UNLV got one of those runs back in the bottom of the second and had the bases loaded with one out when Kristen Wood (Trevor, Wis./Wilmot Union) entered the game in relief. She got a strikeout and a groundout to leave all three of those Rebels on base, keeping NU within 7-2 entering the third.
With the score the same in the top of the fourth, Andrea Filler (Fort Wayne, Ind./Bishop Dwenger) led off with a solo home run to make it a 7-3 contest. Filler's blast was her second of the year and the 16th of her college career.
UNLV tried to add to its lead in the fourth, getting runners to first and third with one out following an NU error. Wood was able to strike out the next batter before a fly out ended the frame.
Northwestern continued chipping away at its deficit with a two-out rally in the top of the fifth. Following two quick flyouts on just five pitches, Andrea DiPrima (Arlington Heights, Ill./Buffalo Grove) singled back through the middle. Letourneau then doubled to right field to push DiPrima to third before Filler doubled into the left-centerfield gap, bringing both Wildcats in and cutting the UNLV lead to 7-5. The Rebels then replaced starting pitcher Morgan Ettinger with Francesca Foti before the inning came to an end.
A two-out single in the bottom of the fifth extended UNLV's lead back out to three runs, 8-5, then a one-out Kuhn walk in the sixth was erased by a 5-4-3 double play, helping to keep NU facing the same deficit entering the seventh.
Pinch hitter Alcy Bush (Riverside, Calif./Martin Luther King) led off that top of the seventh for Northwestern by working back from an 0-2 count to draw a walk. Freshman Marissa Panko (Naperville, Ill./Martin Luther King) replaced her on the base paths, moving to second on a passed ball. Brianna LeBeau (Worth, Ill./H.L. Richards) moved Panko to third with a one-out single, and moved to second herself on a throw through to the plate.
DiPrima knocked in Panko with a single to cut the NU deficit to 8-6. She ended up on second and LeBeau at third after the play. Freshman Abbey Boyd (Wilmette, Ill./New Trier) ran for DiPrima at second. Letourneau then knocked in LeBeau with an RBI groundout that also put the tying run at third with two down, but that is where the comeback fell just 60 feet short.
Letourneau (1-4) took the loss, allowing seven runs on seven hits and three walks with one strikeout in 1.1 innings of work. Wood pitched 4.2 innings of relief, giving up one run on three hits and a walk with five strikeouts.
DiPrima had three hits in the game while Letourneau and Filler all had a pair to lead Northwestern at the plate. Filler drove in three runs and Letourneau scored twice.
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