Northwestern
Saint Louis
No. 7 Wildcats Sweep Billikens, 5-3
3/20/2007 12:00:00 AM | Softball
March 20, 2007
ST. LOUIS -- No. 7 Northwestern completed a doubleheader sweep of Saint Louis Tuesday night, winning the second game of the double-dip, 5-3, behind a two-run home run from freshman Nicole Pauly (Palatine, Ill./Palatine) and a career-best 16 strikeouts from freshman Lauren Delaney (Jefferson City, Mo./Helias).
The win improves Northwestern to 21-5 on the season, while the loss drops Saint Louis to 12-15 overall this year.
Northwestern put the game's first runs on the board in the top of the third. Senior Katie Logan (Tempe, Ariz./Corona del Sol) led off with an infield single to short, then stole second one out later. Senior Garland Cooper (Mission Viejo, Calif./Santa Margarita Catholic) moved Logan to third with a productive groundout before Pauly annihilated a pitch deep over the left-field fence for her third home run of the season and a 2-0 NU lead.
In the circle, Delaney was gassing the Billikens, at one point notching six-consecutive strikeouts across the first, second and third innings before Saint Louis got its first hit of the game with two outs in the third.
The Wildcats added some more runs in the fifth. Darcy Sengewald (Frankfort, Ill./Lincoln Way East) led off with a single to center, then moved all the way to third one out later when sophomore Tammy Williams (Roscoe, Mo./Osceola) doubled to the fence in center.
With two-time defending Big Ten Player of the Year Cooper at the plate, Saint Louis elected to intentionally walk the senior. The first pitch from Billiken starter Lorena Floccari (4-8) toward to the outstretched glove of the catcher bounced away, however, allowing Sengewald to score and Williams to move up to third.
With one run already in, Saint Louis decided to pitch to Cooper, who promptly singled through the right side of the infield to drive in Williams and make the score 4-0 in favor of the 'Cats. Freshman Ashley Lafever (Bettendorf, Iowa/Pleasant Valley) replaced Cooper at first, then stole second base and moved to third on a productive groundout from Pauly.
Sophomore Erin Dyer (Homer Glen, Ill./Lockport) then rifled a single into right field to score Lafever and make it a 5-0 ballgame. With the double and run scored in the inning, Williams now has a base hit and a run scored in each of NU's last 12 games.
Delaney was continuing to cruise for the 'Cats, notching her 10th strikeout of the game and her 100th strikeout of the season to lead off the bottom of the fifth inning, but Saint Louis would mount a comeback. After a Wildcat error and a walk to lead off the bottom of the sixth, the Billikens got a three-run home run to cut the NU lead to two, 5-3.
After the next two batters also got on base, Delaney settled down and struck out three-consecutive batters to get out of the inning still with a two-run lead.
In the seventh, Delaney surrendered a leadoff double before fanning the final three batters of the game to finish with 16 Ks. She allowed three runs (two earned) on five hits and a walk to move to a perfect 11-0 on the season.
Northwestern returns to action at 5 p.m. CT Thursday, March 22, at Evansville in Evansville, Ind.
