Northwestern University Athletics
Northwestern
22-8, 4-0
Iowa
20-14, 2-2
| Team | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | Runs R | Hits H | Errors E |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Northwestern | 7 | 3 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 12 | 16 | 0 |
| Iowa | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 2 |
No. 16 Wildcats Explode on Hawkeyes, 12-2 (5)
4/2/2006 12:00:00 AM | Softball
April 2, 2006
EVANSTON, Ill. -- No. 16 Northwestern exploded for 12 runs and a whopping 16 hits to throttle Iowa, 12-2, in five innings Sunday in the second game of a doubleheader.
Freshman Tammy Williams (El Dorado Springs, Mo./Osceola) had a monstrous game, clubbing two home runs and a double to score twice and drive in six. Junior Katie Logan (Tempe, Ariz./Corona del Sol) also turned in a three-hit performance.
Eight Northwestern starters scored a run in the game, and eight starters earned hits in the game. The Wildcats also got a pinch-hit double from junior Jessica Miller (Elberfeld, Ind./Techumseh) and a pinch-hit single from freshman Erin Hampshire (Wilmette, Ill./New Trier).
The hit total was Northwestern's best since rapping out 17 hits in a 14-2, six-inning win over Michigan State on April 30, 2005.
The win pushes Northwestern to 22-8 overall on the year, 4-0 in the Big Ten. Iowa falls to 20-14 on the season, 2-2 in the conference.
On the weekend, the Wildcats outscored their opponents 41-6, hit .387 and slugged .792 as a team with 41 hits, 10 doubles and 11 home runs.
With game one of the double-dip just a two-run affair, Northwestern set out to leave no doubt in game two. Williams began things by taking the second pitch of the game over the fence for a quick 1-0 NU lead.
Logan followed with a single up the middle, then mother nature took over with a 15-minute lightning delay.
Following the brief break, junior Garland Cooper (Mission Viejo, Calif./Santa Margarita Catholic) drew a walk, but Logan was picked off second base on the play. Senior Kristen Amegin (West Sacramento, Calif./Elk Grove) followed Cooper with a walk of her own, then both runners moved up a base on a wild pitch.
With runners on second and third, senior Jamie Dotson (Santa Ana, Calif./Foothill) hit a grounder to second that was muffed to score Cooper and put runners on the corners with still just one out.
Senior Sheila McCorkle (Costa Mesa, Calif./Mater Dei) drove Amegin in with a double to left-center to make the score 3-0 and again put runners on second and third. Freshman Ann Schraufnagel (Oak Park, Ill./Oak Park River Forest) replaced Dotson on third base as a pinch-runner, then freshman Erin Dyer (Homer Glen, Ill./Lockport) singled to center to plate Schraufnagel for a 4-0 lead.
A walk to senior Ashley Crane (Sammamish, Wash./Eastlake) loaded the bases, then Williams drove in the whole lot of them with a two-out, three-run double in her second at-bat of the inning. The shot gave the Wildcats a 7-0 lead before the inning would end.
The inning was Northwestern's biggest of the season, and its largest single-inning output since posting seven runs in the fifth inning of a game April 17, 2005, at Purdue.
Iowa replaced starter Ali Arnold with Steph Ackerson to begin the second frame. With two outs in the inning, Dotson served a single into right field, then moved to second when McCorkle worked a full-count walk. Dyer lofted a high double into right-center field to score Dotson for an 8-0 lead.
With runners at second and third, Crane blazed a single into left field to drive in McCorkle and Dyer and push the Wildcats into double-digits for the third time on the weekend and give the 'Cats a 10-0 lead.
Iowa brought first-game starter Brittany Weil in to pitch after Crane's hit, replacing Ackerson. Weil got the next Wildcat up to pop out to short to end the inning.
In the bottom of the third, Iowa brought the lead back down to eight with a two-run Mindy Heidgerken home run.
Northwestern got those runs back in the fourth, when Williams hit her second home run of the game, a two-run job after a Darcy Sengewald (Frankfort, Ill./Lincoln Way East) walk.
Senior Courtnay Foster (Tucson, Ariz./Sahuaro) picked up the win with a two-hitter (one of which was a squirrely job in the fifth inning, landing almost in the first-base coaches box before taking a left turn and spinning around first base in fair territory). She allowed three walks and struck out a pair to move to 12-4 on the year.
Cooper finished 2-for-3 with a run scored, while Dyer was 2-for-2 with two RBIs and two runs scored. Crane drove in a pair of runs, while McCorkle scored twice.
Northwestern returns to action at 4 p.m. Tuesday, April 4, at Northern Illinois.
Team Stats
Pitching:
W: Foster, Courtnay (12-4)
L: Ali Arnold (7-6)
Batting:
2B: Williams, Tammy 1 ; Cooper, Garland 1 ; McCorkle, Sheila 1 ; Dyer, Erin 1 ; Miller, Jessica 1
HR: Williams, Tammy 2
RBI: Williams, Tammy 6 ; Dotson, Jamie 1 ; McCorkle, Sheila 1 ; Dyer, Erin 2 ; Crane, Ashley 2
Base Running:
RUNS: Williams, Tammy 2 ; Cooper, Garland 1 ; Amegin, Kristen 1 ; Dotson, Jamie 1 ; Schraufnagel, Ann 1 ; McCorkle, Sheila 2 ; Dyer, Erin 2 ; Crane, Ashley 1 ; Sengewald, Darcy 1
SB: Dyer, Erin 1
PO: Logan, Katie 1
Batting:
HR: Mindy Heidgerken 1
RBI: Mindy Heidgerken 2
Base Running:
RUNS: Mindy Heidgerken 1 ; Colleen McGlaughlin 1
SB: Mindy Heidgerken 1
