EVANSTON, Ill. -- Junior Kristen Wood (Trevor, Wis./Wilmot Union) flirted with her second no-hitter of the year in tossing a one-hit shutout, and the Northwestern offense scored its most runs in 32 years in a 19-0 (5) run-rule win over Wisconsin in the first game of a Big Ten doubleheader at Sharon J. Drysdale Field.
Northwestern (16-11, 4-0 B1G) and Wisconsin (13-17, 0-4 B1G) return to action immediately in the second game of their Big Ten Saturday doubleheader.
Wood (8-3) completed her second one-hit shutout of the Big Ten season. She walked three and allowed just a two-out single in the top of the fifth for Wisconsin's only hit. She fanned a season-high 11 batters in the contest.
Meanwhile at the plate, Northwestern smoked five home runs to give the team 18 in its first four Big Ten contests of the year. Overall, in the Wildcats' last six games, NU has clubbed 24 home runs. The 19 runs scored are Northwestern's most since a 19-2 win against Detroit on April 30, 1983, while the Wildcats also established a school record with 19 base hits.
Wood and struck out the Wisconsin side in the top of the first, setting the stage for the NU offense to be equally as dominant in the bottom of the first. The Wildcats would send 14 batters to the plate and score eight runs before all was said and done.
It all started with a Sabrina Rabin (St. Charles, Ill./St. Charles North) walk and continued when Andrea DiPrima (Arlington Heights, Ill./Buffalo Grove) singled on the infield. Andrea Filler (Fort Wayne, Ind./Bishop Dwenger) then hit a fly ball to deep right that had the fielder twisting and turning before it fell onto the track for an RBI single.
With the scoring started, senior Julia Kuhn (Middletown, N.J./Middletown South) gave it a monster boost with a crushing three-run home run off the wall of McGaw Hall, putting NU on top 4-0 with her third home run of the season and the fifth of her career.
The inning continued when Brianna LeBeau (Worth, Ill./H.L. Richards) walked, Sammy Nettling (Tucson, Ariz./Corona del Sol) singled and Olivia Duehr (Antioch, Ill./Antioch) walked to load the bases, bringing Rabin back to the plate. The freshman smoked a line drive over the head of the left fielder and raced all the way around for a bases-clearing triple, pushing the score to 7-0. The triple was the first for Northwestern as a TEAM this season.
And still the inning continued. DiPrima walked and Filler was hit by a pitch to re-load the bases, then Amy Letourneau (Laguna Niguel, Calif./Santa Margarita Catholic) walked to force Rabin home and push the contest into run-rule territory already in the first inning, 8-0. Wisconsin needed a phenomenal diving catch off a Kuhn line drive in center to finally end the frame.
Following another 1-2-3 Wisconsin offensive half, Northwestern got right back to work in the bottom of the second. Anna Edwards (La Canada, Calif./La Canada) reached on a single and gave way to pinch runner Marissa Panko (Naperville, Ill./Benet Academy). Panko stole second and motored all the way around to slide under the tag when Duehr singled into left field. Duehr then trotted home when Rabin legged out her second triple of the game to make it a 10-0 score after two complete innings.
Filler led off the bottom of the third with a soaring solo home run, her team-leading seventh of the season. Letourneau followed with a single to center and gave way to pinch runner Fran Strub (Coralville, Iowa/Clear Creek Amana). Strub stole second before Kuhn and Edwards joined her on base via walks. After each of the previous two innings ended on tremendous Wisconsin defensive plays, the third was no different. The Badgers turned a 5-2-3 inning-ending double play on a sharp Nettling ground ball to keep NU's lead at 11-0 after three.
Wisconsin got a two-out, full-count walk in the top of the fourth to break up Wood's perfect game, but the junior came back with her 10th strikeout of the game to end the inning.
In the bottom of the fourth, Northwestern put the finishing touches on its offensive masterpiece to complement Wood's near no-hitter, scoring eight more runs. Duehr led off with her fifth home run in Northwestern's four Big Ten games, giving her six homers this year and 20 in her career. Rabin followed with an infield single that knocked Wisconsin starter Mariah Watts from the circle in favor of Annie Davis. Pinch hitter Brooke Marquez (Garden Grove, Calif./Pacifica) greeted Davis with an infield single, then pinch hitter Anna Petersen (Aurora, Ill./Metea Valley) crushed a double to left center to bring Rabin around to score.
Strub remained in the game to bat for Letourneau, and she made the most of the opportunity. On the first pitch of the at-bat, she drove a ball into the right-field bleachers for a three-run home run -- the first of her career.
Abbey Boyd (Wilmette, Ill./New Trier) drew a pinch-hit walk, Edwards doubled and then Nettling crushed a three-run home run of her own to complete the scoring, 19-0.
In the top of the fifth, Wisconsin loaded the bases with two walks and its first base hit of the game before a pop-up ended the shutout.
Rabin was a career-best 4-for-4 with four RBIs and three runs scored to lead NU at the plate. Marquez, Filler, Edwards, Nettling and Duehr all had two hits apiece. Strub, Kuhn and Nettling drove in three runs while Filler and Duehr had two RBIs each. Duehr scored three times and Filler, Edwards and Nettling crossed the plate twice each.
Northwestern entered the game as the lone Big Ten team without a triple all year; Rabin proceeded to hit two in the contest.
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