IOWA CITY, Iowa – Northwestern and sophomore starter Kaley Winegarner shut down an early Iowa hit parade Friday night at Bob Pearl Field, coming back from a 2-0 hole to earn a 5-2 victory in the series opener.
Northwestern now is 23-27 on the season, 9-12 in the Big Ten. Iowa is 17-30, 8-13 in the league. The two teams resume their run for the roses at 2 p.m. CT tomorrow, Saturday, May 6 on BTN Plus.
Winegarner (8-6) allowed four hits in the first inning of the game, but only three in the remaining six innings combined. At one point she retired 10-straight Hawkeyes from the third through the sixth innings. She ended up charged with two runs on seven hits and two walks with five strikeouts in the complete-game effort.
Iowa turned its four singles into a pair of runs against Winegarner in the bottom of the first inning. The Wildcats nearly had an immediate answer in the top of the second when Kenzie Ellis led off with a double, but a one out Anna Petersen fly ball to left was not deep enough for a sac fly when Ellis was thrown out at the plate to end the inning.
Northwestern returned the favor when Iowa led off its half of the second with a double and put that runner on third with one out. Winegarner was able to get a ground ball to Alcy Bush at first and then a foul out to Sammy Nettling behind the plate to strand that Hawkeye and keep it a 2-0 ballgame.
The Wildcats employed patience as a virtue in the top of the third to plate a pair and knot the game. Alcy Bush fought off a couple of early strikes as the leadoff batter and eventually was hit by a pitch. Sabrina Rabin then walked to move Bush to second. Krista Williams followed by going to a 3-0 count, and Bush took off for third on the next pitch. Iowa's infield was caught offguard, and the catcher's throw sailed into left to allow Bush to score. One out later, Marissa Panko singled into the outfield, and the speedy Rabin easily raced around to the plate to make it a 2-2 game.
Iowa had a shot at regaining the lead in the bottom of the inning, getting a runner to third with one out yet again. For the second time, Winegarner stranded her there, this time with a groundout and then an inning-ending strikeout to keep the score level.
Northwestern took advantage of a pair of Iowa errors to surge into the lead in the fifth. Brooke Marquez started the inning with a walk, then Bush sacrificed her to second before Marquez alertly took third on a Rabin groundout to the left side. Those 60 feet proved to be huge when Williams slotted a single just inside the bag at third, bringing Marquez to the plate. The Hawkeyes tried to chase Williams back to the bag at first after she took a monstrous turn, and their throw got away to give Williams second on an error. Another error on a Panko ground ball allowed Williams to race around with an additional run, putting NU on top by two, 4-2.
Krista Williams delivers this go-ahead single in the 5th, then the #B1GCats tack on another!
— NorthwesternSoftball (@NUSBcats) May 6, 2017
NU 4, Iowa 2 | B5 https://t.co/NWCRURzrlC
Meanwhile, in the circle, Winegarner clamped down hard. She retired the side in the fourth, fifth and sixth innings, mowing down 10 batters in a row entering the seventh frame, where the Wildcats gave her more insurance. Rabin led off the top of the seventh with a booming triple to right, extending her current hitting streak to 11 games. One out later, Panko singled through the middle to drive in Rabin and make it a 5-2 game.
Sabrina Rabin runs her current hitting streak to 11 games with a leadoff TRIPLE in the 7th! #B1GCats https://t.co/6adkRFoF08
— NorthwesternSoftball (@NUSBcats) May 6, 2017
In the bottom of the seventh, the leadoff Hawkeye singled into right to break up Winegarner's consecutive-batters retired streak. The Wildcats sophomore caught the next batter napping, then fielded a comebacker herself for the second out, but a two-out walk and a hit batter loaded the bases for the cleanup spot in Iowa's lineup. No worries, 'Cats! Winegarner struck out the next Hawkeye to the plate to end the game.
Panko led NU at the plate with two hits and two RBIs while Ellis also had two hits. Rabin scored twice.