Northwestern University Athletics
Northwestern
Penn State
Stephanie Churchwell Homer Pushes Wildcats Past Penn State, 2-1
4/24/2005 12:00:00 AM | Softball
April 24, 2005
EVANSTON, Ill. -- Down to its final out and trailing 1-0 in the second game of a doubleheader Sunday against Penn State at Sharon J. Drysdale Field, freshman Stephanie Churchwell (Lake Forest, Calif./El Toro) strode the plate and lined the first pitch she saw over the left-field fence to give No. 15 Northwestern a 2-1 win over the Nittany Lions.
In the second game of Big Ten series, the home school bats as the visitor, so the game was not quite over. But junior Courtnay Foster (Tucson, Ariz./Sahuaro) soon made sure it was, setting down the side in order in the bottom of the seventh to secure her fourth one-hitter of the season and the 50th win of her Northwestern career.
The Wildcats had trouble all day with PSU starter Missy Beseres, whose older sister Jenni played for Northwestern from 1996-99. Beseres (12-10) struck out the side in the first three innings and finished with 15 K's in the game, but NU finally got to her in the seventh.
With one out, freshman Darcy Sengewald (Frankfort, Ill./Lincoln Way East) quickly went down to an 0-2 count, but battled back and sent a single through Beseres' five-hole and up the middle, ensuring that Churchwell, NU's leadoff batter, would come to the plate.
With the win, Northwestern keeps intact its perfect Big Ten record at 14-0. The Wildcats are now 34-10 overall, matching their win total from last season. Penn State drops to 28-18, 6-7 with the loss.
The game was a pitcher's duel from the start, with the first hit of the game coming on a Sengewald single in the top of the third inning.
In the ensuing Nittany Lion half, Jen Acunto notched PSU's only hit of the game, a solo home run to give Penn State the first lead, 1-0.
The Wildcats came very, very close to getting on the board in the sixth inning, but fell just short or to the left.
Sophomore Garland Cooper (Mission Viejo, Calif./Santa Margarita Catholic) led off with a deep fly ball, but the 20 mph wind blowing in from center pushed it down just in front of the fence where it was caught for the first out of the inning.
With two outs and pinch runner Ashley Crane (Sammamish, Wash./Eastlake) on first after a Jamie Dotson (Santa Ana, Calif./Foothill) walk, junior Sheila McCorkle (Costa Mesa, Calif./Mater Dei) launched a ball deep over the fence in left, but just foul.
Foster's record improves to 16-5 with the win. She went the distance, allowing just the one hit and run while walking four and striking out six. The one-hitter was the eighth of her career.
If the game seemed familiar to Wildcat fans, it should. Back on March 18 against No. 2 California at the Hornets Capital Classic in Sacramento, Calif., Northwestern was also on the wrong end of a 1-0 score and down to its final out. In that game, Dotson sent a line-drive home run over the center-field fence to score pinch runner Elizabeth Piatt (Monticello, Ill./Monticello) and give NU a 2-1 win.
Sengewald and Churchwell both had two hits in the game for NU while McCorkle recorded the other Wildcat base knock.
Northwestern returns to action with a doubleheader at 3 p.m. Tuesday, April 26, at Notre Dame.
