Northwestern University Athletics
No. 25/23 Wildcats Head Back to Southern California
3/2/2005 12:00:00 AM | Softball
March 2, 2005
NU Worth Invitational Notes in PDF Format
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EVANSTON, Ill. -- After arriving home in Evanston early Monday morning following a successful 4-1 trip to the Palm Springs Classic that propelled the Wildcats into the top-25 for the first time this season, No. 25/23 Northwestern hops right back on a plane for the Worth Invitational in Fullerton, Calif., beginning Friday, March 4.
NU defeated three ranked opponents in the desert (No. 23/25 Long Beach State, No. 12 Washington and No. 20 Pacific) and junior pitcher Courtnay Foster (Tucson, Ariz./Sahuaro) was named Big Ten Pitcher of the Week for going 2-1 with a save on the weekend. She gave up just one earned run in 21 innings of work for a 0.33 ERA with 31 strikeouts.
Junior Kristen Amegin (Sacramento, Calif./Elk Grove) hit a pair of home runs and currently leads the Big Ten in the category with five on the season.
Northwestern's new rankings mark the first-ever time the program has been in both polls at the same time. The Wildcats finished last season ranked No. 23 in the NFCA/USA Today poll while they reached a high of No. 22 in the ESPN/USA Softball poll in 2003.
The Wildcats will face the No. 3 team in the country for the second time this season in Fullerton when they square off with Stanford Saturday night. Earlier this year, Northwestern fought then-No. 3 Arizona to a 4-3, eight-inning loss at the Pepsi Arizona Softball Classic -- the now No. 1 Wildcats' closest win of the season.
The Worth Invitational is also the second time NU will participate in a tournament of that moniker -- earlier this year the Wildcats went 3-2 at the Florida Atlantic Worth Invitational.
Following is Northwestern's schedule for the Worth Invitational hosted by Cal State Fullerton:
• Fri., March 4, 2005, 3:30 p.m. CT
Northwestern vs. Illinois State (7-3)
• Fri., March 4, 2005, 8 p.m. CT
Northwestern at Cal State Fullerton (4-5)
• Sat., March 5, 2005, 1:15 p.m. CT
Northwestern vs. Nevada (5-8)
• Sat., March 5, 2005, 8 p.m. CT
Northwestern vs. No. 3 Stanford (16-1)
• Sun., March 6, 2005, 11 a.m. CT
Northwestern vs. Bowling Green (0-6)
