Northwestern University Athletics
Northwestern
Minnesota
Wakeup Call! 'Cat Comeback Stuns Gophers, 5-2
5/15/2004 12:00:00 AM | Softball
May 15, 2004
ANN ARBOR, Mich. -- Down 2-0 heading into the final inning with Minnesota starter Piper Martin cruising, No. 4 Northwestern needed something big to happen. An overnight rain delay was not what the Wildcats envisioned, but it was just what the doctor ordered as NU stormed back Saturday morning to take a 5-2, 11-inning decision over the fifth-seeded Gophers in the Big Ten Tournament.
The game began at 2 p.m. CDT Friday -- pushed back from a scheduled 1:30 p.m. start due to a lightning delay in the day's first game -- and was thrice interrupted by rain delays: once in the top of the first and again in the top of the seventh inning. After attempting to complete the game with a heavy rain still falling, the decision was made to postpone the final five outs until Saturday morning.
But it would take much longer than that. The game resumed at 8 a.m. CDT with Eileen Canney pitching to Minnesota's Val Alston with one out and a 2-2 count. Alston drove the first pitch of the morning into right field for a single. Katie Meyer then grounded into a 6-4-3 double play to end the inning.
With one out in the bottom of the seventh, Carri Leto stroked her second single of the game up the middle. Erin Mobley followed with a single to center and both runners advanced on an error. Leto trotted home on a Garland Cooper groundout to cut the Gopher lead to 2-1. Kristen Amegin then hit a sharp single to left field, tying the game at 2-2 and sending it to extras.
"That double play gave us a lot of momentum heading into the bottom of the seventh," NU head coach Kate Drohan said. "I'm very pleased with the adjustments we made."
In the 11th, Amegin played hero again, sending a three-run rocket over the center field fence to give the Wildcats a 5-2 win. She finished the day 3-for-6 with four RBIs with all three hits coming after the night-long rain delay. The game was NU's fourth extra-inning affair in its last six Big Ten Tournament games.
"We got our rhythm back and hit the ball hard today," Drohan said. "Everyone was so excited to play."
In the top of the first inning Friday, rain stopped play for 70 minutes: 30 minutes of actual rain followed by another 40 to squeegee leftfield. After allowing the fifth Gopher hit of the afternoon in the third inning, NU starter Courtnay Foster gave way to the freshman Canney.
Minnesota (33-24) was able to eke out a pair of runs in the fifth inning when a Val Alston single to center plated Erickson and Rachel Alston scored following a Wildcat throwing error to give the Gophers a 2-0 lead.
Canney (18-2), the reigning Big Ten Freshman of the Year, earned her 11th consecutive victory in upping her record to 18-2. She went eight and two-thirds innings in relief to earn the victory.
Martin (21-13) went the distance for Minnesota, but was saddled with the loss, despite becoming the school's all-time leader in complete games (85) with the effort.
NU (12) and Minnesota (16) combined to leave 28 runners on base in the game. The Golden Gophers went 2-16 at the plate in the game with runners in scoring position. The loss snapped a 119-game winning streak when leading after six innings for Minnesota.
With a 3-for-6 performance, Leto extended her team-best hitting streak to 14 games.
The 'Cats threatened to score in the fourth, loading the bases on a single by Eryn Manahan and a pair of walks to Cooper and Jamie Dotson. A Martin pitch then hit leftfielder Jessica Miller, which would have forced home a run, but the umpire ruled she did not attempt to get out of the way. Miller eventually struck out and J.C. Kira flied out to end the inning.
In the bottom of the sixth, NU again loaded the bases with one out, but again was unable to score.
Following another lengthy rain delay with one out in the seventh (41 minutes), play was continued for one more out before the rain became too heavy to continue and the game was suspended until the next morning.
Previously, No. 8 Michigan State defeated No. 1 Michigan and No. 6 Ohio State beat No. 3 Iowa, both by 5-1 scores. NU and second-seeded Illinois were the only top seeds to escape the quarterfinals of the tournament.
Northwestern moves on to face Michigan State in the second semifinal contest at approximately noon CDT today.
