Northwestern University Athletics
Big Ten Leaders Meet in Michigan This Weekend
4/26/2006 12:00:00 AM | Softball
April 26, 2006
Northwestern Game Notes in PDF Format
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EVANSTON, Ill. -- In the midst of its longest winning streak of the season, No. 14 Northwestern travels to Michigan State and Michigan this weekend for two huge series in the race for the Big Ten title.
The Wildcats and Spartans meet at 3 p.m. CT Friday before playing the second contest at noon CT Saturday. Sunday's doubleheader against the Wolverines starts at 11 a.m. CT.
All three squads came into last weekend as the top three in the Big Ten standings before Michigan State went 0-4 against Ohio State and Penn State to fall to 8-6 overall. Currently, Northwestern is No. 1 at 11-2 and No. 12 Michigan is No. 2 with a 9-3 record.
Last year, Michigan State played spoilers to the 'Cats Big Ten title hopes, preventing Northwestern from clinching the title before even facing eventual national champion Michigan.
Winners of eight straight and 16 of its last 18, NU holds its Big Ten title destiny in its own hands. With six games to go, the Wildcats' magic number to clinch is four against fourth-place Iowa and five against third-place Ohio State and second-place Michigan (the Big Ten standings are ranked by winning percentage; magic numbers reflect the combined NU wins and opponents' losses needed to clinch).
The Wildcats grabbed national headlines last week after winning a marathon, 18-inning game at Minnesota, 4-3. Junior hurler Eileen Canney (Paradise, Calif./Paradise) tied the NCAA Division I single-game record with 28 strikeouts in the contest to earn the complete game victory.
Canney, who leads the Big Ten in ERA, strikeouts and opponent's batting average, will face off with her biggest competition for Big Ten Pitcher of the Year Sunday when the Wildcats take on Michigan and its ace, Jennie Ritter. Both have been Big Ten Pitcher of the Week three times this year, and they shared the honor last week.
For Northwestern's complete game notes package for the weekend, click on the .pdf link at the top of this page.
THE BROADCASTS!
NUsports.com ALL-ACCESS
Northwestern's games Friday at Michigan State and Sunday at Michigan will be available LIVE on NUsports.com via CSTV's All-Access. The broadcasts will feature live audio from a team of WNUR veterans.
To subscribe to All-Access, navigate to the audio/video page on NUsports.com. All-Access is a premium service providing live coverage of many of Northwestern's sports, and also features interviews and features.
WNUR 89.3 FM
Northwestern student radio station WNUR 89.3 will broadcast every game this weekend LIVE! Friday's game against Michigan State and Sunday's doubleheader at Michigan can be heard on the WNUR airwaves, while Saturday's game against the Spartans will be an internet only broadcast. To hear Saturday's game, visit http://sports.wnur.org and follow the instructions to listen live! Access the stream early, because it does tend to reach its listener capacity for these internet only broadcasts.
Gametracker
Gametracker is available all weekend long.
