Northwestern
San Diego State
No. 8 Northwestern Holds Off San Diego State, 2-1
3/2/2007 12:00:00 AM | Softball
March 2, 2007
FULLERTON, Calif. -- A Tammy Williams (Roscoe, Mo./Osceola) two-run, fifth-inning home run gave No. 8 Northwestern all the runs it would need Friday night in a 2-1 victory against San Diego State at the Worth Invitational.
Northwestern improves to 12-5 on the season with the victory, 2-0 at the Worth Invite. San Diego State falls to 9-7 on the year, 1-1 at the tournament with the loss.
Though both teams would threaten during the early innings of the game, the contest remained in a scoreless deadlock through the first three frames.
The Wildcats put runners on second and third with two outs in the second, but a strikeout ended that threat. In the third, senior Katie Logan (Tempe, Ariz./Corona del Sol) and Williams led off with back-to-back singles, but again Aztec starter Melissa Owens was able to get out of trouble unscathed.
San Diego State put runners on first and second with two outs on an error and a walk in the second, but Northwestern hurler Lauren Delaney (Jefferson City, Mo./Helias) coaxed a pop up to Darcy Sengewald (Frankfort, Ill./Lincoln Way East) to end that inning.
Delaney had a no-hitter through 3.1 innings of the game before a hot-shot bouncer from Monica Alnes glanced off the glove of Sengewald -- who was in a full dive toward the 5-6 hole -- and into center field for the Aztecs' first base knock of the game. Alnes was replaced by a pinch runner, who moved up to second on a wild pitch before scoring on a double to right-center to give SDSU the first lead of the game, 1-0.
Northwestern countered immediately in the next half inning. Logan led off the top of the fifth with her second single of the game before Williams turned on a pitch and launched it halfway to San Diego, giving the Wildcats a 2-1 lead with her fourth home run of the season.
The blast was the 18th of Williams' career, tying her with Karen Lemke (1982-85) for fourth in Northwestern history.
In the top of the sixth, freshman Emily Haug (Jefferson City, Mo./Helias) led off with a single back up the middle to knock Owens (5-4) from the game. Christina Ross replaced her in the circle. Pinch runner Ashley Lafever (Bettendorf, Iowa/Pleasant Valley) replaced Haug at first.
Freshman Kelly Dyer (Homer Glen, Ill./Lockport) then promptly laced a double inside the bag at first to push Lafever to third with no outs, however Ross got a pair of Ks before a leaping stab of a grounder at third ended the inning with no Northwestern runners reaching home.
Delaney picked up her teammates in the bottom half of the sixth, striking out the side to send NU into the seventh still with a one-run lead, 2-1.
Delaney then closed out the game in the seventh with two more strikeouts and a pop up to move to a perfect 7-0 on the season. She allowed one run on three hits with one walk and 10 whiffs.
Logan and Williams both finished 2-for-4 with a run scored, while Williams added a pair of RBIs.
Northwestern returns to action at 1:15 p.m. CT tomorrow, Saturday, March 3, against No. 9 Stanford at the Worth Invitational. NU's second game of the day is against No. 11 Oregon State at 8 p.m. CT.
LIVE STREAMING AUDIO will be available for Saturday's games via NUsports.com All-Access. To sign up for this premium service, link to the audio/video page on NUsports.com.
