MINNEAPOLIS -- No. 15 Minnesota mastered the two-out rally Friday in the opener of its series with Big Ten-leading Northwestern, getting 14 of its 19 base runners in the game aboard with two down to hand the Wildcats their first conference loss of the season, 10-5.
Northwestern's loss is its first since a March 24 10-inning defeat at Hofstra and makes the Wildcats 17-3 overall in their last 20 games played. NU now is 20-12 overall on the year, 8-1 in the Big Ten while Minnesota improves to 31-7 on the year, 7-3 in the league.
Minnesota jumped ahead in this game, 7-1, after two innings before Northwestern largely took control from there, but the Wildcats could not fully chip away at the deficit. NU and Minnesota meet in game two of this series at 1 p.m. CT tomorrow, Saturday, April 11.
Minnesota leapt out to a big early lead with a pair of two-out base hits, first getting two runs on a slap single back through the middle before a two-run home run made it 4-0 against Northwestern starter Kristen Wood (Trevor, Wis./Wilmot Union).
The Wildcats got one run back immediately, starting the scoring rally with a one-out single off the bat of freshman Sammy Nettling (Tucson, Ariz./Canyon del Oro). Later, with two outs, she remained at first base when senior Julia Kuhn (Middletown, N.J./Middletown South) hit a booming double off the very top of the wall in center, sending Nettling racing all the way around to score and make it a 4-1 contest.
The Gophers, however, were on a two-out mission in this game. With a runner at first and two outs in the bottom of the second, Minnesota got a double and a home run to extend its lead to six runs, 7-1.
Northwestern went right back to work of its own accord in the top of the third, beginning with a four-pitch Olivia Duehr (Antioch, Ill./Antioch) leadoff walk. Krista Williams (Pleasanton, Calif./Amador Valley) entered to run for Duehr, moving to second on a Sabrina Rabin (St. Charles, Ill./St. Charles North) groundout and to third when Andrea DiPrima (Arlington Heights, Ill./Buffalo Grove) extended her current hitting streak to 16 games with a single.
Junior Andrea Filler (Fort Wayne, Ind./Bishop Dwenger) brought Williams home with a looping single into left to make it 7-2. The inning continued with pinch runner Fran Strub (Coralville, Iowa./Clear Creek Amana) -- in for DiPrima -- taking third on a passed ball, but Minnesota ace Sara Groenewegen was able to escape further damage.
The Gophers loaded the bases on a two-out single and two walks in the bottom of the third before the next batter unloaded a hellacious line drive toward third. Anna Edwards (La Canada, Calif./La Canada) was positioned perfectly on the play because the ball entered her glove and stuck before she even had a chance to move it, ending the inning.
Like clockwork, Minnesota again loaded the bases in the bottom of the fourth, helped by a two-out single and walk. The next three batters reached on two walks and a hit by pitch to force home three more runs and make it a 10-2 game.
Needing a run to extend the contest to the bottom of the fifth, the Wildcats got it done in the top half. Duehr led off with her second walk and Rabin followed with a walk of her own. Both runners moved up on a wild pitch and Filler took advantage, driving a ball into right that was caught deep enough to allow Duehr to score and make the score 10-3.
In the bottom of the fifth, Wood recorded her first 1-2-3 inning of the game before Groenewegen performed the same feat in the top of the sixth. In the bottom half, Wood was able to strand the game-ending run at third base to send the contest the distance.
In the top of the seventh, Edwards led off with a walk and Abbey Boyd (Wilmette, Ill./New Trier) entered to run for her. One out later, Rabin also walked to give the Wildcats a pair of base runners before DiPrima shot a single through the right side of the infield, bringing Boyd around to score and sending Rabin to third. Filler then launched a ball to deep center for her second sac fly of the game, accounting for the final 10-5 score.
Filler led NU at the plate with three RBIs on a single and two sacrifice flies. DiPrima had a pair of hits. Though Rabin reached twice on walks, she saw her 14-game hitting streak come to a close.
Wood (9-4) took the loss, going the distance innings and allowing 10 runs on eight hits and eight walks with four strikeouts.
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