Northwestern University Athletics
Northwestern
Wisconsin
Softball Advances at Big Ten Tournament
5/11/2000 12:00:00 AM | Softball
May 11, 2000
IOWA CITY, IOWA - Tami Jones' (West Hills, Calif./El Camino Real) sixth inning RBI-single broke a 1-1 tie as Northwestern (27-22) defeated Wisconsin (34-24), 2-1, in the first round of the Big Ten Tournament this afternoon in Iowa City.
The Wildcats drew first blood off Badgers ace Andrea Kirchberg in the second inning. Jenn Shull started the rally with a one-out single. Jones, trying to sacrifice, reached on an error by Wisconsin third baseman Chrissy Swartout. After a strikeout, Gretchen Barnes (Flossmoor, Ill./Homewood-Flossmoor), who returned after missing 12 games with an injury, lined a single up the middle to score pinch-runner Stacey Austin (Cincinnati, Ohio/Sycamore) easily from second base. Wisconsin scored in the fifth to tie the game and it stayed deadlocked until the sixth. Big Ten Player of the Year Brooke Siebel (Brentwood, Tenn./ Father Ryan) opened the inning with a triple high off the wall in rightcenter. After a popout, Jones poked one into rightcenter, scoring pinch-runner Brittany Nelson (Chicago, Ill./Mother McAuley) with the go-ahead run. Lauren Schwendimann (Tustin, Calif./Foothill) had another terrific outing on the mound, allowing only three Badger hits while striking out six to improve to 17-10 on the year.
Northwestern advances to face top-seeded Iowa tonight at 7:30 p.m.
