No. 4 Seed Wildcats Silence Salukis, 4-0

Friday, May 19

Evanston, Ill.

2:30 PM

Northwestern

43-12

Southern Illinois

34-12

Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	Runs R	Hits H	Errors E
Southern Illinois	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	2
Northwestern	0	0	0	4	0	0	X	4	6	1

No. 4 Seed Wildcats Silence Salukis, 4-0

5/19/2006 12:00:00 AM | Softball

Box Score

May 19, 2006

EVANSTON, Ill. -- No. 4 seed Northwestern began its 2006 NCAA Tournament Friday afternoon at Sharon J. Drysdale Field with a dominating, 4-0 shutout over Southern Illinois.

The win propels the Wildcats into the winner's bracket of the four-team, double-elimination Regional where they will face the Fighting Irish of Notre Dame at 11 a.m. tomorrow, Saturday, May 20.

Notre Dame defeated UC Santa Barbara, 5-2, in Friday's first game. The Salukis and the Gauchos face off in an elimination game at 1:30 p.m. Saturday afternoon.

Northwestern's win Friday upped its record to 43-12 on the season, matching the program's 1987 team for the best win total in school history. The shutout is NU's 21st of the season, tying the 1982 and 1983 teams for the fourth-best total in program history.

The Wildcats now are 4-0 in their opening NCAA Tournament game in the last four years.

Northwestern starter Eileen Canney (Paradise, Calif./Paradise) began the game in dominating fashion, striking out the first four and 7-of-9 batters in Southern Illinois' first trip through the lineup. Canney already had racked up eight K's through three innings.

She finished with 13 strikeouts against just a pair of walks to move to 22-6 on the season and move her into a tie for seventh on NU's single-season wins list.

The only hit Canney allowed in the game was a bunt single in the third. The one-hitter was her seventh of the year and her 15th shutout of the year.

The Wildcats hit the ball hard early, but did not push a run across in the first. Junior Katie Logan (Tempe, Ariz./Corona del Sol) led off the game with a single to second base, then advanced to second one out later when junior Garland Cooper (Mission Viejo, Calif./Santa Margarita Catholic) drew a walk.

Senior Jamie Dotson (Santa Ana, Calif./Foothill) then lined a single through the right side of the infield, but Logan was thrown out at home to keep the game scoreless.

Northwestern broke through for four runs in the bottom of the fourth. Dotson drew a one-out walk, and was lifted for pinch runner Ann Schraufnagel (Oak Park, Ill./Oak Park River Forest). Senior Kristen Amegin (West Sacramento, Calif./Elk Grove) then hit into a fielder's choice, but the throw to second got by the fielder leaving all runners safe.

After a sacrifice bunt from senior Sheila McCorkle (Costa Mesa, Calif./Mater Dei) moved both runners over, freshman Erin Dyer (Homer Glen, Ill./Lockport) hit a tricky grounder to third that was mishandled for an error, allowing Schraufnagel to score for a 1-0 Northwestern lead.

Senior Ashley Crane (Sammamish, Wash./Eastlake) then beat out an infield single to shortstop that plated Amegin. Sophomore Darcy Sengewald (Frankfort, Ill./Lincoln Way East) brought both Dyer and Crane all the way around to score with a hard, line-drive double into left-center field to make the score 4-0 in favor of the Wildcats.

Crane finished 2-for-3 with a run scored and an RBI while Sengewald had a pair of RBIs.