Northwestern University Athletics
Wildcats Lose in Semifinals of Buzz Classic
6/21/1999 12:00:00 AM | Softball
March 28, 1999
EVANSTON, Ill. - The Northwestern softball team split two games in tournament play of the Buzz Classic in Atlanta, Ga. The Wildcats won their pool and earned the fourth seed for tournament play. They defeated No. 15 Illinois-Chicago, 8-2, in quarterfinal action before dropping a heartbreaker, 3-2, to No. 23 Southern Mississippi in the semifinals. Northwestern posted a 5-1 mark for the weekend to even their overall record at 15-15.
The Wildcats took advantage of three UIC errors to score three runs in both the second and third innings to take a commanding 6-0 lead. Northwestern closed out the scoring in the fifth, getting a pair of runs on an RBI-triple by Jenn Schull and a RBI-single by Jill Nesbitt. Brooke Siebel went the distance on the mound, giving up two runs on four hits with five strikeouts.
Northwestern also scored first against Southern Mississippi. Mikie Chambers led off with a walk, stole second and came around to score on an error. They held the lead until the top of the third, when the Golden Eagles plated two runs to surge ahead. The Wildcats trailed until the seventh, when they mounted a two-out rally to tie the game. Consecutive walks to Nesbitt and Chambers put runners on first and second for Gretchen Barnes, and Barnes delivered with a game-tying single. However, they surrendered a run in the eighth and could not come back.
