Northwestern University Athletics
Northwestern
Northern Illinois
Softball Takes Two From Northern Illinois
4/10/2002 12:00:00 AM | Softball
April 10, 2002
DEKALB, Ill. - Northwestern improved its record to 16-9-1 with two shutout wins over Northern Illinois Wednesday in DeKalb. The Wildcats took Game 1, 5-0, behind the arm of Lauren Schwendimann (Tustin, Calif./Foothill) while Brie Brown (Nashville, Tenn./Harpeth Hall) led the 'Cats to a 1-0 win in Game 2.
Senior Erin Jancic (Houston, Texas/Alief Elsik) led off the day with a double down the left field line. She would quickly come around to score the first run of the twinbill on Brett Nakabayashi's (Irvine, Calif./Irvine) base hit to center. That would be all the scoring NU would need to take Game 1 from the Huskies, but it did not stop there.
The 'Cats added two more in the fourth off Rane Gunderson's (Minnetonka. Minn./Minnetonka) two-RBI single to center, which brought across Jessie Wellnitz (Waterloo, Iowa/East) and Schwendimann. Up 4-0, NU was still not satisfied.
Using three base hits back up the middle in the sixth, the 'Cats tacked on two more insurance runs.
Schwendimann pitched seven strong innings to earn her third complete game shutout of the season, improving her record to 11-2.
In Game 2, the only scoring came during the 'Cats' half of the second inning. J.C. Kira (Honolulu, Hawaii/St. Francis) opened the inning with a single to center and advanced to third on a pair of sacrifice bunts. Then with two outs, Jancic singled to the left side to bring home the only run of the game.
Brown pitched seven impressive innings, striking out five and allowing no walks. The win marks her first shutout of the season and ups her record to 5-7.
NU's top two batters in the lineup, Jancic and Nakabayashi, hit a combined 8-for-14 at the plate to lead the 'Cats offense. The two also teamed up for half of NU's RBI and a pair of stolen bases.
NU returns to conference action this weekend with single games against Penn State on Friday and Saturday and a doubleheader against Ohio State on Sunday.
