Northwestern University Athletics
Softball Splits With Wisconsin to Start Big Ten Season
3/31/2000 12:00:00 AM | Softball
March 31, 2000
EVANSTON, Ill. - Junior Brooke Siebel (Brentwood, Tenn./Father Ryan) belted a solo home run with two outs in the seventh inning to tie the game, and Gretchen Barnes (Flossmoor, Ill./Homewood-Flossmoor) drove in the gamewinner in the 10th as Northwestern managed a split in its Big Ten opener in Madison, Wis. The Wildcats took the opener, 2-1 in 10 innings, while Wisconsin took the nightcap, 5-1.
Freshman pitcher Lauren Schwendimann (Tustin, Calif./Foothill) matched empty frames with Wisconsin ace Andrea Kirchberg through four innings of Game One before the Badgers broke through in the bottom of the fifth to take a 1-0 lead. That set the stage for Siebel's heroics in the seventh.
In the 10th, senior Jenn Shull (San Jose, Calif./Presentation) led off with a double. After a sacrifice bunt moved pinch runner Jessie Wellnitz (Waterloo, Iowa/East) to third, Barnes laid down a squeeze bunt that scored Wellnitz with the gamewinner.
Schwendimann went the distance for NU, scattering eight hits, allowing only one unearned run while striking out 12. She has won three of her last four decisions and improved to 5-7 on the year.
Runs were also scarce in the early innings of Game Two. However, after each team scored single runs in the fourth inning, Wisconsin exploded for four runs in the fifth. Badger first baseman Lindy Barth capped the inning with a three-run homer to give the Badgers a 5-1 lead. Five different Wildcats tallied hits in the game.
The Wildcats return to action tomorrow afternoon, facing the Minnesota Golden Gophers in Minneapolis at 1 p.m.
