Northwestern University Athletics
Northwestern
Iowa
Wildcats Pound No. 24 Iowa, 11-1, In Five Innings
4/3/2005 12:00:00 AM | Softball
April 3, 2005
EVANSTON, Ill. -- On a rare beautiful day in early April at Sharon J. Drysdale Field, No. 20 Northwestern made the first game of a doubleheader against No. 24 Iowa ugly, defeating the Hawkeyes, 11-1, in five innings.
With the win, Northwestern improves to 21-9 overall, 3-0 in the Big Ten. The Wildcats are now 7-3 on the season against ranked opponents. Iowa's record falls to 28-7, 1-2 in the Big Ten.
Northwestern set the tone early, jumping on Iowa ace Lisa Birocci in the first inning. Senior Erin Mobley (Santa Ana, Calif./Foothill) hit a one-out double to the left-field gap. Garland Cooper (Mission Viejo, Calif./Santa Margarita Catholic) was hit by a pitch to put runners on second and third, then junior Jamie Dotson (Santa Ana, Calif./Foothill) hit into a fielder's choice deep in the hole at short, but Mobley beat the throw to third to load the bases.
Junior Kristen Amegin (Sacramento, Calif./Elk Grove) lined a single into center field to drive in Mobley, then freshman Kelly Odell (Portland, Ore./Westview) drew a two-out, bases-loaded walk to drive in Cooper from third and give NU a 2-0 lead.
The Wildcats did not relent in the second inning. Sophomore Katie Logan (Tempe, Ariz./Corona del Sol) drew a leadoff walk and advanced to second on a sacrifice slap from freshman Stephanie Churchwell (Lake Forest, Calif./El Toro). Mobley drew a walk, chasing Birocci from the game.
Cooper greeted Iowa reliever Ali Arnold with a three-run home run over the right-field fence to give the Wildcats a 5-0 advantage. The blast was the sixth of the season for Cooper and the 17th of her career, moving the sophomore into a tie for fourth all-time at Northwestern.
With the bases empty, Dotson was hit on the top of the helmet with a pitch, but trotted down to first unharmed. Freshman Elizabeth Piatt (Monticello, Ill./Monticello) replaced Dotson on the basepaths and raced to third when Amegin lined a double to left center.
Junior Sheila McCorkle (Costa Mesa, Calif./Mater Dei) drove in Piatt with a bunt single to push NU's lead to 6-0 before the Hawkeyes could end the inning.
Steph Ackerson took the circle for the Hawkeyes in third inning, but the Wildcats quickly ran her from the game when Churchwell began the inning with a single, Mobley walked and Cooper singled up the middle.
Arnold re-entered the game in the circle, and for the second time gave up a home run to the first batter she faced. Dotson clobbered a 3-2 pitch over the left-field fence for a grand slam to break the game wide open and stake NU to a 10-0 lead.
With still no outs in the inning, Amegin strode to the plate and made history. She drove an Arnold offering over the right-field wall for the 20th home run of her career, tying her with Gretchen Barnes for the career home run record at Northwestern. The blast was her ninth of the season and pushed NU to an 11-0 lead.
Amegin is now just two homers short of tying teammate Cooper's single-season home run record of 11, set last year.
Northwestern's three home runs in the game give it 32 for the year as a team, one short of the team record of 33 set last season.
Cooper finished the game 2-for-2 with three RBIs and three runs scored. Amegin finished 3-for-3 with a pair of RBIs and Dotson drove in four runs to give her a team leading 35 on the season.
Lost in the midst of all the offense was another solid outing from sophomore Eileen Canney (Paradise, Calif./Paradise), who ran her record to 12-4, allowing four hits and a single run with six strikeouts in five innings of work.
Birocci was tagged with the loss for Iowa. Her record falls to 17-6. Iowa came to Evanston on the heels of a tough series to open the Big Ten season at No. 1 Michigan, earning a split of the series against the Wolverines.
The two teams return to action this afternoon, Saturday, April 3, for the second game of the doubleheader.
