Northwestern University Athletics
Northwestern
Washington
Huskies Catch Wildcats in Extra Innings, 7-6
3/26/2004 12:00:00 AM | Softball
March 26, 2004
FULLERTON, Calif. -- No. 25 Northwestern suffered a heart-breaking loss in eight innings to No. 6 Washington (24-6) Friday in Fullerton, Calif., 7-6. NU had jumped out to a 4-0 advantage in the third inning, but could not hold the lead against its seventh ranked opponent of the season.
Tied at 5-5 after seven innings, the Wildcats began the top of the eighth with Kristin Amegin on second base per NCAA tie-breaker rules. Jamie Dotson laid down a textbook sacrifice bunt to advance Amegin to third, where she scored after Husky first-baseman Sarah Hyatt misplayed a Sheila McCorkle grounder to give NU the 6-5 lead.
Washington's Kathy Fiske tied the game in the bottom of the frame, hitting a nubber just over the head of Dotson at first, scoring Jessica Wilkinson and advancing Kristen Rivera, who had walked, to third. NU's Courtnay Foster then whiffed Amanda Oleson for the second out of the inning. The Huskies' Robyn Wike then hit a grounder to second so weakly that the Wildcats' Carri Leto could not get to the bag before Fiske for the final out, allowing Rivera to score the winning run.
"This is a tough loss," Wildcat head coach Kate Drohan said. "We did a much better job putting the ball in play today and we worked hard. Give credit to Washington, they are a great hitting team and never let themselves out of the game."
Northwestern (14-8) concludes its spring break road trip through Hawaii and California with an official record of 2-4. The Wildcats also recorded an exhibition win over Nittaidai, a Japanese university, in Hawaii. The loss is NU's third in a row.
The 'Cats pounced out of the gate, building a 4-0 lead with a pair of runs in each of the second and third innings. Eryn Manahan opened the second frame with a double to right center, scoring on a Katie Logan single to third. McCorkle grounded out for the second out, but scored pinch-runner Elizabeth Piatt by putting the ball in play.
Logan led the Wildcats' at the plate, going 2-for-3 with an RBI and a walk.
In the third inning, Erin Mobley walked, then stole second and scored on a Garland Cooper single. Lauren Olson pinch ran for Cooper and scored on a deep sacrifice fly by Amegin to give NU its 4-0 advantage.
In the bottom of the frame, though, the Huskies' bats awoke. A single, double and a homerun by Washington against Wildcat starter Eileen Canney in the inning pushed five runs across, giving it a 5-4 lead. Foster (7-6) relieved Canney and got all three outs in the inning while preventing any more damage.
Northwestern tied the score at 5-5 in the fifth inning when Mobley scored on a Manahan sacrifice fly. Mobley was 0-for-3 in the contest, but reached base twice and scored both times. Ashley Boek (15-3) went the distance for Washington to earn to the win.
The Wildcats return to action at 3 p.m. Tuesday, March 30, in their home-opener against Illinois-Chicago.
