Northwestern
Cal Poly
No. 7 Northwestern Outlasts Cal Poly, 3-2
2/24/2007 12:00:00 AM | Softball
Feb. 24, 2007
CATHEDRAL CITY, Calif. -- Sophomore Jessica Rigas (River Forest, Ill./Oak Park River Forest) launched the first home run of her career in the bottom of the sixth inning Saturday afternoon against Cal Poly at the Palm Springs Classic, bringing No. 7 Northwestern back from a 2-1 deficit to defeat the Mustangs, 3-2.
The win improves the Wildcats to 9-4 on the season and 3-0 at the Palm Springs Classic. Cal Poly falls to 8-4 with the loss, 2-1 in the event.
In the top of the third inning, Northwestern began crushing the ball off Cal Poly starter Helen Pena (2-2), but the Mustangs got a pair of ridiculous plays in the outfield to keep NU scoreless. Both Garland Cooper (Mission Viejo, Calif./Santa Margarita Catholic) and Nicole Pauly (Palatine, Ill./Palatine) jacked balls to the fence in center that appeared to be headed out of the park, but twice Cal Poly centerfielder Lisa Modglin made unbelievable grabs to rob the Wildcats of home runs while crashing through the outfield fence.
Northwestern pushed the first run of the game across in the top of the fourth. Senior Jessica Miller (Elberfeld, Ind./Techumseh) and sophomore Erin Hampshire (Wilmette, Ill./New Trier) both reached base on errors before Rigas drew a one out walk to load the bases. With pinch runners Ashley Lafever (Bettendorf, Iowa/Pleasant Valley) at third and Julia Sears (Chicago, Ill./Marist) at second, pinch hitter Emily Haug (Jefferson City, Mo./Helias) hit a grounder to second that was mishandled long enough to allow Lafever to score for a 1-0 NU lead on an RBI groundout.
Cal Poly evened the game in the bottom of the fourth in much the same fashion. After loading the bases with no outs on a single, a walk and a hit by pitch, the Mustangs plated a run on an RBI groundout to make the score 1-1.
The Mustangs picked up another run in the bottom of the fifth to take a 2-1 lead before the Wildcats charged back.
Hampshire led off the top of the sixth with a bouncing ball over the head of the third baseman for a leadoff single. She then was lifted again for a pinch runner, this time giving way to freshman Aly Euler (River Forest, Ill./Oak Park River Forest).
Rigas then came to the plate, and with her high school teammate at first, launched a ball so far over the fence in left-center field that this time it was out of the reach of Modglin's Go-Go Gadget glove for the first home run of Rigas' career and a 3-2 Northwestern advantage.
After Northwestern starter Lauren Delaney (Jefferson City, Mo./Helias) hit a batter to lead off the seventh inning, she was replaced by senior Eileen Canney (Paradise, Calif./Paradise) in the circle. Cal Poly promptly managed to load the bases with no outs on a single and walk, but Canney coaxed a pair of pop ups and a groundout to Tammy Williams (Roscoe, Mo./Osceola) to end the game.
Delaney earned the win to move to 6-0 on the season, pitching six-plus innings and allowing two runs on three hits with three walks and six strikeouts. Canney threw 1.0 innings, surrendering a hit and a walk to pick up her second save of the year.
Williams finished 3-for-4 with a double for Northwestern, while Erin Dyer (Homer Glen, Ill./Lockport) was 2-for-4 for the 'Cats.
