Northwestern University Athletics
Northwestern
Notre Dame
Notre Dame Rally Upsets Wildcats, 4-3
4/26/2005 12:00:00 AM | Softball
April 26, 2005
SOUTH BEND, Ind. -- A four-run, bottom-of-the-seventh rally by Notre Dame stunned visiting No. 15 Northwestern Tuesday evening at Ivy Field, giving the Fighting Irish a 4-3 victory over the Wildcats.
Northwestern falls to 34-11 overall with the loss, while the Irish improve to 36-10. The Wildcats sit atop the Big Ten standings with a perfect 14-0 record, while Notre Dame currently has the best winning percentage in the Big East (11-1), but are in second due to the conference's point system.
Both teams had trouble figuring out the starting pitching through four innings. Northwestern sophomore Eileen Canney (Paradise, Calif./Paradise) allowed just one single, which was a ball nearly missed by Sara Schoonaert that died 10 feet from the plate where no one get it in time.
The Wildcats were able to eke out three hits against Irish starter Heather Booth in four innings, with only junior Jamie Dotson's (Santa Ana, Calif./Foothill) finding the outfield.
In the top of the fifth, Notre Dame brought in Steffanie Stenglein to pitch, and the Wildcats jumped all over her. Sophomore Katie Logan (Tempe, Ariz./Corona del Sol) led off with a single to short, then advanced to third when freshman Stephanie Churchwell (Lake Forest, Calif./El Toro) hit a soaring double off the top of the right-field wall.
Churchwell's double extended her current hitting streak to 14 games, the longest streak of the season for the Wildcats.
Sophomore Garland Cooper (Mission Viejo, Calif./Santa Margarita Catholic) put the first run of the game on the board with her second single of the game, plating Logan to give NU a 1-0 lead.
In the top of the sixth inning, junior Courtnay Foster (Tucson, Ariz./Sahuaro) took over in the circle for Canney, who left the game after allowing just one base-runner on the one hit with one strikeout.
With a steady drizzle beginning to fall, the Wildcats added their second run of the game in the top of the seventh. Freshman Darcy Sengewald (Frankfort, Ill./Lincoln Way East) led off with a walk, then scored all the way from first on Churchwell's second double of the game to give NU a 2-0 advantage. Churchwell advanced to third on the throw home.
With two outs, Cooper singled for the third time in the game, bring in Churchwell to extend the Wildcat lead to three, 3-0. Sophomore Ashley Crane (Sammamish, Wash./Eastlake) replaced Cooper at first, then advanced to second on a wild pitch. With the rain perhaps affecting Stenglein's control, Dotson was hit with a pitch and then lifted for pinch runner Elizabeth Piatt (Monticello, Ill./Monticello).
Cooper finished the game 3-for-3 with two RBIs and a walk. Churchwell was 2-for-4 with two doubles and an RBI.
In the bottom of the seventh, Notre Dame rallied. A walk and a hit batsman preceded a double into the left-centerfield gap. The throw home caught Megan Ciolli in no-man's land up the third-base line, but an error allowed her to score to cut into NU's lead. After a walk loaded the bases, Canney re-entered in the circle.
Another Wildcat error allowed a second ND run to come home before Canney coaxed an infield fly for the second out of the inning, but with the bases loaded a single up the middle by Schoonaert brought in two runs to end the game.
Foster (16-6) was tagged with the loss for NU while Stenglein (17-5) was given the win for Notre Dame.
The Wildcats played the game without head coach Kate Drohan and associate head coach Caryl Drohan, who were away from the team attending to an illness in the family. Assistant coaches Tori Nyberg and Jaime Clark handled coaching duties for Northwestern in the game.
Northwestern will return to action at 3 p.m. Friday afternoon against Michigan State at Sharon J. Drysdale Field.
