Northwestern University Athletics
Northwestern
Michigan State
Softball Sweeps Michigan State
4/21/2002 12:00:00 AM | Softball
April 21, 2002
EVANSTON, Ill. - The Northwestern softball team swept a doubleheader from Michigan State on a cold and rainy Sunday afternoon at Sharon J. Drysdale Field. NU won Game 1 8-0 in five innings, then 7-3 in Game 2. The wins improves NU's record to 21-14-1 and 9-5 in the Big Ten. The 'Cats move into a tie with Minnesota for fourth place in the conference standings. The top six teams advance to the Big Ten Tournament.
In the first game, NU took control early when Gretchen Barnes hit her 20th career home run. The home run gave NU a 3-0 advantage after the first. Barnes was perfect at the plate in the twin bill, going 5-for-5 with six RBI, two runs and a stolen base.
The 'Cats added to their lead in the second when Carri Leto tripled to center, bringing in Brett Nakabayashi.
A double by Barnes and a sacrifice fly by Erin Mobley in the fourth opened the gap to 7-0. The game ended in the fifth due to the eight-run rule after Leto hit a sacrifice fly to left, scoring Rane Gunderson.
Lauren Schwendimann picked up her team-high 14th win of the season, pitching her fifth complete game shutout.
NU jumped out to anther 3-0 lead in Game 2. Barnes got things started in the first with her fourth hit of the day, bringing across Nakabayashi. Schwendimann doubled the lead in the second as she lead off the inning with her third career home run.
Up 3-0 in the sixth, the game was suspended for 15 minutes due to lighting and heavy rain. Prior to the delay, Brie Brown had held the Spartans to just two hits and did not allow a single runner to advance past first.
When the game resumed, MSU went to work chipping away at the three-run deficit. Brown got two outs, but not before the Spartans scored one run and put another runner on second. Stephanie Elliott then came in to relieve Brown, but the freshman was unable to get the final out of the inning either. Instead, she surrendered two hits and walked another batter as the NU lead disappeared. Brown was then re-entered into the game to finish what she had started. The junior right-hander recorded the final out of the sixth on a fly out to left.
The 'Cats quickly regained the lead in the seventh as Cindy Muran doubled home J.C. Kira for the eventual game-winner. Leto added a handful of insurance runs with a three-run home run to right field.
Brown sat down the Spartans in order in the seventh to earn her seventh win of the year, but she needed a little help from center fielder Rane Gunderson to do so. Gunderson, who had made an amazing diving catch earlier in the day, ran down a long fly ball to center, then dove towards the fence to get the second out of the inning.
NU returns to action on Wednesday for a doubleheader against Loyola. First pitch is scheduled for 3 p.m.
