Northwestern University Athletics
Northwestern
Indiana
Wildcats Bounce Indiana, 6-3
4/11/2003 12:00:00 AM | Softball
April 11, 2003
BLOOMINGTON, Ind. - Northwestern jumped out to any early 6-0 lead after two and a half innings and made it hold up Friday afternoon, defeating Indiana 6-3 at IU Softball Field. It was the 27th consecutive Big Ten loss for the Hoosiers. Carri Leto (El Cajon, Calif./Valhalla) had two hits for NU and J.C. Kira (Honolulu, Hawaii/Saint Francis) added her second home run of the season.
The victory improved the Wildcats' record to 22-11 overall and 4-5 in the Big Ten, while the Hoosiers fall to 14-19 overall and 0-7 in conference play.
NU wasted little time in getting on the scoreboard. Leto led off the game with a triple off the top of the fence in right field and scored one batter later on an RBI single by Brett Nakabayashi (Irvine, Calif./Irvine).
The Wildcats used a two-out rally to push their advantage to 2-0 in the second. With two away, Jessie Wellnitz (Waterloo, Iowa/East) reached on a bunt single, stole second and then scored on a double by Leto.
Northwestern stretched its lead to 6-0 with a four-run third. Erin Mobley (Santa Ana, Calif./Foothill) led off with a single and advanced to second when Robyn Pettinger's (Hoffman Estates, Ill./Fremd) bunt was thrown into centerfield by IU catcher Stormy Hanson. Mobley scored on the next batter, as pitcher Heather Stillians threw Jamie Dotson's (Santa Ana, Calif./Foothill) comebacker away attempting to get the forceout at third base. Kira made the Hoosiers pay for the errors, depositing her second home run of the season, a three-run blast to left-center.
Just when it appeared as though the 'Cats would pull away, Indiana answered back with three runs in the bottom of the third to make it 6-3. It looked like Courtnay Foster (Tucson, Ariz./Sahuaro) might get out of the inning with only one run scoring when she intentionally walked Hanson to load the bases with two outs. But Abby Stark followed with a two-run single to right field, cutting NU's lead to three. With runners on second and third, Foster struck out Lauren Hines to end the inning.
Both teams managed to generate little offense the remainder of the game, as NU managed two more hits and four baserunners. Foster limited the Hoosiers to one basehit and allowed three runners to reach. She retired the final seven batters of the game in order.
Northwestern outhit Indiana 8-4 and stranded seven runners, compared to five for the Hoosiers. Foster struck out seven and walked four to improve to 10-6 with the win.
NU and the Hoosiers wrap up their two-game series at noon Saturday.
