Northwestern University Athletics
Northwestern
Bradley
Wildcats Hammer Bradley, 9-1
3/24/2003 12:00:00 AM | Softball
March 24, 2003
PEORIA, Ill. - Despite having not played a game in 16 days, the Northwestern softball team showed little, if any, signs of rust Monday. The Wildcats pounded out a season-high 15 hits in a six-inning 9-1 drubbing of Bradley. Every NU starter had at least one hit, led by Cindy Muran (Newbury Park, Calif./Newbury Park) who had two hits and four RBI and socked her second home run of the season.
With the win, the Wildcats, who are ranked 24th in the most recent ESPN.com/USA Softball poll, improve to 14-6 overall while Bradley falls to 7-16.
Northwestern came out swinging in the top of the first inning, recording five hits and scoring five runs with two outs. With one run in and the bases loaded, Robyn Pettinger (Hoffman Estates, Ill./Fremd) double to left-center field, scoring two runs to push the lead to 3-0. Lauren Schwedimann (Tustin, Calif./Foothill) then followed with a two-run single, helping her own cause.
NU tacked on two more runs in the top of the second inning to push its lead to 7-0. After a lead-off double by Erin Mobley (Santa Ana, Calif./Foothill), Carri Leto (El Cajon, Calif./Valhalla) drove her home with an RBI triple to right-center. The consecutive hits marked the end of the day for Bradley starting pitcher Brittany Dehler, who allowed nine of the 12 batters she faced to reach, including seven on basehits. Leto would come around to score one batter later on a sacrifice fly by Muran.
The early lead was more than enough for Schwendimann, who sat down the first 13 Brave batters in order, including six by strikeout. With one out in the fifth inning, Bradley finally broke up the perfect game bid with back-to-back singles. However, Schwendimann induced two straight pop-ups to end the inning.
Northwestern closed out its scoring in the top of the sixth inning when Leto led off with a double and Muran followed by launching a two-run homer to left-center.
The Braves avoided the shutout by pushing across a single tally in the bottom half of the sixth. Following two singles to lead off the inning, Schwendimann got Holly Rogers to ground into a double play. However, a single by Laura Harms allowed May Ruthhart to score from third to cut NU's lead to 9-1. But Bradley was unable to reach the seventh inning, as Schwendimann stuck out her seventh batter of the game to end the contest due to the eight-run mercy rule.
Five Northwestern batters recorded two hits, including Muran, Leto, Mobley, Pettinger and J.C. Kira (Honolulu, Hawaii/Saint Francis), who reached base in all four of her plate appearances.
The Wildcats return to action at 3 p.m. Tuesday when they take on Illinois State in Bloomington, Ill.
