Northwestern (20-13, 8-2 Big Ten) and Minnesota (32-7, 8-3 Big Ten) conclude their series at noon CT tomorrow, Sunday, April 12.
In Friday's opener, Minnesota put 14 base runners on with two outs, scoring all of its runs after Northwestern had trouble shutting down rallies. Wildcats starter Amy Letourneau (Laguna Niguel, Calif./Santa Margarita Catholic) made certain the sequel did not materialize in the first inning Saturday. The Gophers put two runners on with two outs before Letourneau fanned Danielle Perlich -- a batter who had just six Ks all season entering the game -- to end the threat.
In the top of the second, Northwestern's offense got to work against Minnesota freshman starter Kylie Stober. Letourneau led the inning off with a massive solo home run off the scoreboard -- of the baseball field next door! The shot was her seventh of the year and the 29th of her career.
Julia Kuhn (Middletown, N.J./Middletown South) and Brianna LeBeau (Worth, Ill./H.L. Richards) followed Letourneau with back-to-back singles and eventually stood at second and third with two outs before the inning ended.
NU kept its momentum at the plate in the top of the third, loading the bases with one out on singles by Andrea DiPrima (Arlington Heights, Ill./Buffalo Grove), Sammy Nettling (Tucson, Ariz./Canyon del Oro) and Letourneau. With two outs, LeBeau hit a squirrely spinner off the end of her bat toward second, where it landed and shot to the right of the fielder for an RBI infield single, extending the Wildcats' lead to 2-0 before the rally came to a close.
Minnesota got its first hit of the game with one out in the third, but Letourneau got the very next batter to line softly to LeBeau at second. LeBeau quickly fired to Kuhn at first to double off the runner and end the inning.
The 15th-ranked Gophers' offense appeared in the bottom of the fourth, loading the bases with no outs after plating an early run. The next batter hit an RBI groundout to second to tie the score before a three-run home run shot Minnesota out in front, 5-2. Another RBI grounder and a two-run home run later in the inning made NU's deficit 8-2 entering the fifth.
After NU left a pair of runners on in the top of the fifth, Olivia Duehr (Antioch, Ill./Antioch) entered the circle in relief. An outstanding pitcher in high school, Duehr made her college pitching debut in this moment. The Gophers were able to get to her for two runs to end the contest.
Letourneau (11-9) took the loss, allowing eight runs on seven hits and three walks with two strikeouts in four innings. Letourneau, Kuhn and LeBeau all had two hits apiece at the plate.
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