No. 11 Northwestern Eliminates Ohio State, 4-0

Saturday, May 13

Evanston, Ill.

11:30 AM

Northwestern

42-11

Ohio State

38-21

Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	Runs R	Hits H	Errors E
Ohio State	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	0
Northwestern	0	0	0	0	3	1	X	4	8	3

No. 11 Northwestern Eliminates Ohio State, 4-0

5/13/2006 12:00:00 AM | Softball

Box Score

May 13, 2006

EVANSTON, Ill. -- No. 11 Northwestern got its revenge Saturday morning at Sharon J. Drysdale Field against the only Big Ten team it did not defeat during the regular season, dominating No. 4 seed Ohio State, 4-0, to advance to the championship game of the Big Ten Tournament.

Senior Courtnay Foster (Tucson, Ariz./Sahuaro) threw her 11th-career one-hit shutout, striking out eight and allowing just a first-inning bloop single to move to 21-6 overall on the season.

Northwestern improves to 42-11 on the season, matching its win total from last year. The 'Cats now are one shy of reaching their program high for wins, set in 1987. Ohio State falls to 38-21 with the loss.

The Wildcats advance to face No. 2-seeded and No. 13-ranked Michigan in the tournament final Saturday afternoon.

Like the teams' low-scoring meetings in the regular season, the game began as a pitcher's duel between Northwestern hurler Foster and Ohio State starter Kim Reeder.

Foster fanned five through the first four innings, allowing just three base runners on a hit, a walk and an error. She got some defensive help from freshman shortstop Tammy Williams (Roscoe, Mo./Osceola) in the fourth. With one out and a runner on first, a ball was hit deep into the hole in short. Not only did Williams improbably get to it with a lunging back-hand, she then wheeled and gunned down the runner from the outfield grass, earning a raucous ovation from the crowd.

The Wildcats put together the game's first threat in the bottom of the fourth. Senior Jamie Dotson (Santa Ana, Calif./Foothill) led off the frame with a walk, then was replaced at first by pinch runner Ann Schraufnagel (Oak Park, Ill./Oak Park River Forest). Senior Kristen Amegin (West Sacramento, Calif./Elk Grove) sacrificed Schraufnagel over to second.

Senior Sheila McCorkle (Costa Mesa, Calif./Mater Dei) followed with a perfect bunt down the first-base line, reaching for a hit and advancing Schraufnagel to third. With no one covering second base on the play, McCorkle alertly kept wheeling to earn the rare bunt double.

Freshman Erin Dyer (Homer Glen, Ill./Lockport) then lofted a foul ball down the right field line that Brittnay Vanderink dove to catch. With the fielder on the ground, Schraufnagel tagged up and headed for home, but a perfect throw from Vanderink caught Schraufnagel and ended the inning still with no score.

In the fifth inning, Northwestern hit Reeder hard. After a deep, wind-deadened foul out to the fence in left by senior Ashley Crane (Sammamish, Wash./Eastlake), sophomore Darcy Sengewald (Frankfort, Ill./Lincoln Way East) ripped a double into right-center. And infield single by junior Katie Logan (Tempe, Ariz./Corona del Sol) put runners on the corners. Williams then lined a double into left-center to score Sengewald for a 1-0 lead, moving Logan to third in the process.

With runners at second and third, Ohio State intentionally walked junior Garland Cooper (Mission Viejo, Calif./Santa Margarita Catholic) to load the bases. The intentional walk was Cooper's 10th of the season and the 18th of her career. She ranks seventh in NCAA Division I history in intentional bases-on-balls.

Dotson then came to the plate and crushed a single into left field to score both Logan and Williams for a 3-0 Northwestern lead. Ohio State brought Courtney Pruner into the circle in relief of Reeder, and Pruner escaped further damage for the Buckeyes.

Northwestern added another run in the bottom of the sixth on a one-out, solo home run crushed off of McGaw Hall by Sengewald.

Foster's shutout was her fifth of this season and the 28th of her career. She now has 983 career strikeouts.

Sengewald finished 2-for-3 with two runs scored and an RBI. Dotson drove in a pair of runs for the 'Cats.