SOUTH BEND, Ind. -- No. 25 Notre Dame got a two-out single in the bottom of the seventh Wednesday to defeat Northwestern, 3-2, in a midweek nonconference matchup at Melissa Cook Stadium.
Northwestern falls to 20-15 on the season with the loss and now stays on the road this weekend for a Big Ten series at Nebraska. Sunday's game against the Huskers has been changed to 3 p.m. CT to accommodate a live BTN broadcast. Notre Dame runs its current winning streak to 20 games with its victory and now is 33-11 on the year.
Sabrina Rabin (St. Charles, Ill./St. Charles North) led off the game with a single for Northwestern and made her way to third base with one away in the top of the first, but two nice plays from the left side of the Irish infield kept her from scoring. NU again threatened in the second when both Julia Kuhn (Middletown, N.J./Middletown South) and Olivia Duehr (Antioch, Ill./Antioch) drew walks. Eventually, pinch runner Krista Williams (Pleasanton, Calif./Amador Valley) -- in for Kuhn -- made her way to third with two outs, but Notre Dame got an out on the base paths to thwart the threat.
The Irish took advantage to take the game's first lead in the bottom of the second. The two leadoff batters reached on a single and a walk, eventually getting to second and third. Northwestern starter Kristen Wood (Trevor, Wis./Wilmot Union) got a sacrifice fly and a strikeout at that point to limit the rally to a single run.
Northwestern wasted no time tying the game in the top of the third in improbable fashion -- unless you've seen Rabin run. With one out, Rabin beat out her second single of the game before moving to second when Andrea DiPrima (Arlington Heights, Ill./Buffalo Grove) walked. Andrea Filler (Fort Wayne, Ind./Bishop Dwenger) drove a ball deep to right that the fielder caught over her shoulder while racing onto the warning track. Alert and as fast as a speeding locomotive, Rabin tagged from second base and raced 120 feet to score while the Irish defender was still gathering herself.
The sacrifice fly was Filler's NCAA-leading eighth of the season.
Notre Dame went right back on top in the bottom of the third when a two-out error left a runner at third base. The next batter hit a ground ball that found left field to give the Irish a 2-1 edge.
Pitching took over from that moment. The Wildcats went down in order in the fourth and got Fran Strub (Coralville, Iowa/Clear Creek Amana) to second on an error in the fifth, but could do no more. Meanwhile Wood worked perfect fourth and fifth innings of her own, fanning two batters in the fourth and needing just five total pitches for a 1-2-3 bottom of the fifth.
Back-to-back #B1GCats one-out singles from Sammy Nettling (Tucson, Ariz./Canyon del Oro) and Kuhn in the top of the sixth broke the pitchers' spell, and Brianna LeBeau (Worth, Ill./H.L. Richards) took advantage of that fact when a tricky one-hopper back to the circle was mis-played for a bases-loading error. Later, with two outs, pinch hitter Brooke Marquez (Garden Grove, Calif./La Canada) put a ball in play that gobbled up the shortstop, allowing pinch runner Marissa Panko (Naperville, Ill./Benet Academy) to scamper home on another error and tie the game, 2-2.
Wood ran her consecutive-batters retired streak to eight with one out in the bottom of the sixth before Notre Dame got a triple. With the go-ahead run now just 60 feet away, Wood got a swinging strikeout before a harmless grounder to defensive dynamo Kuhn at first stranded that run and sent the game to the seventh still tied.
Notre Dame removed starter Allie Rhodes from the circle in favor of Katie Beriont to start the top of the seventh. The new Irish hurler retired the Wildcats in order, then the Irish started the final rally. A leadoff double was negated when the next batter hit her own runner with the ball. Still, a two-out slap single followed by a ball back up the middle plated the game-ending run for Notre Dame.
Wood (9-6) took the loss, allowing three runs (two earned) on seven hits and two walks with six strikeouts in 6.2 innings. Rabin led NU at the plate with a pair of base hits and a run scored.
••••••
Be the first to know what's going on with the 'Cats -- Follow @NU_Sports on Twitter, become a fan of Northwestern Athletics on Facebook, subscribe to the NU Sports Express e-newsletter and sign up to receive promotional text alerts for the latest news, schedule updates and video and to interact with NU. For more information on following specific Northwestern teams online, visit our Social Media page!