Northwestern
Wisconsin
No. 8 Northwestern Badgers Wisconsin, 2-1
4/20/2007 12:00:00 AM | Softball
April 20, 2007
MADISON, Wis. -- No. 8 Northwestern scored runs in the third and sixth innings Friday night at Goodman Diamond in Madison, Wis., to win a close contest against Wisconsin, 2-1.
The win improves the Wildcats to 34-10 on the season, 9-3 in the conference. Wisconsin falls to 24-14 with the loss, 5-6 in the Big Ten.
Northwestern scored the first run of the game in the top of the third inning. Freshman Kelly Dyer (Homer Glen, Ill./Lockport) led off the frame by beating out an infield single to the shortstop, then she moved to second one out later on a productive groundout by Katie Logan (Tempe, Ariz./Corona del Sol). With sophomore Tammy Williams (Roscoe, Mo./Osceola) at the plate, Dyer alertly stole third base.
Williams then ripped a single through the right side of the infield to score Dyer and give the Wildcats a 1-0 lead.
Wisconsin evened the score in the bottom of the fourth inning. With runners at first and second with one out after a walk and a single, a hard-hit grounder came to Nicole Pauly (Palatine, Ill./Palatine) at second. She flipped to the bag at second for the second out of the frame, but the turn throw to first skipped past to the dugout to allow a run to come in and knot the game, 1-1.
In the top of the sixth, Williams led off with a walk, but was erased at second on a fielder's choice groundout from Garland Cooper (Mission Viejo, Calif./Santa Margarita Catholic). Freshman pinch runner Ashley Lafever (Bettendorf, Iowa/Pleasant Valley) replaced Cooper at first, then moved to second when Pauly reached on an error by the Badger third baseman.
Sophomore Erin Dyer (Homer Glen, Ill./Lockport) then drove a deep ball into right field that was caught for the second out of the inning, but it allowed Lafever to tag up and scamper over to third. Sophomore Jessica Rigas (River Forest, Ill./Oak Park River Forest) followed with a single through the left side of the infield to plate Lafever and give NU the lead back, 2-1.
Senior hurler Eileen Canney (Paradise, Calif./Paradise) came out in the bottom half of the frame and fanned the first two batters she faced to reach 10 strikeouts in the game. She then coaxed a grounder to Darcy Sengewald (Frankfort, Ill./Lincoln Way East) at third to conclude a quick 1-2-3 inning.
After the Wildcats went down in order in the top of the seventh, Canney got a strike out, a fly out to Kelly Dyer in left and another K to end the game. She improved to 19-8 on the season with the win, allowing one unearned run on three hits and a walk with 12 strikeouts.
Eden Brock (13-8) took the loss for Wisconsin.
Northwestern returns to action at noon CT Saturday, April 21, for the second game of its doubleheader at Wisconsin.
