Northwestern University Athletics
Northwestern
Iowa
Softball Knocks Off Iowa, 2-1, in Iowa City
5/6/2001 12:00:00 AM | Softball
May 6, 2001
IOWA CITY, Iowa - After recording just one hit against Iowa hurler Kristi Hanks Saturday in a 3-0 loss, the Northwestern softball team mustered five in Sunday's season finale. However, two of them led to two runs in the third inning, and that was enough as the Wildcats kept the Hawkeyes from winning the Big Ten's regular-season title with a 2-1 win.
Iowa (42-11, 16-4 Big Ten) finished second behind Michigan, who will now host next weekend's Big Ten Championships. Northwestern (20-25, 8-12 Big Ten) saw its season -- and 23-year head coach Sharon Drysdale's career -- come to a close with the upset win.
Lauren Schwendimann (Tustin, Calif./Foothill) was again on the mound for NU, and gave up just one run on five hits while striking out two for the win. She improved to 7-9. Hanks fell to 32-7 on the season with the loss.
Iowa drew first blood in the game, scoring in the second inning. Christina Schmaltz was hit by a Schwendimann pitch to lead off, then stole second. She then advanced to third on the sacrifice bunt by Katie Boney and scored on a groundout by Amber Morrow.
In most games this year, that would be enough for Hanks. But playing under Drysdale for the final time, Northwestern had an answer.
Robyn Pettinger (Hoffman Estates, Ill./Fremd) hit a one-out single, then advanced to second on a sacrifice bunt by J.C. Kira (Honolulu, Hawaii/Saint Francis). Carri Leto (El Cajon, Calif./Valhalla) then tied the game with a double down the rightfield line. Leto then scored when she stole third base and was able to advance courtesy of a bad throw by the Hawkeye catcher.
That ended up being enough for Schwendimann, who allowed just one runner as far as second base the rest of the way.
