Northwestern University Athletics
Northwestern
Iowa
Garland Cooper Breaks Big Ten All-Time Home Run Record; 'Cats Clock Hawkeyes, 5-1
4/27/2007 12:00:00 AM | Softball
April 27, 2007
EVANSTON, Ill. -- Senior Garland Cooper (Mission Viejo, Calif./Santa Margarita Catholic) hit her 20th homer of the season and the 52nd of her career to break the Big Ten's all-time home run record Friday afternoon at Sharon J. Drysdale Field, one of three blasts and two milestones for No. 8 Northwestern in a 5-1 win over Iowa.
The win improves Northwestern to 38-10 overall, 12-3 in the Big Ten. Iowa falls to 34-19 with the loss, 9-6 in the conference.
Cooper's home run breaks the previous record of 51 held by Minnesota's Jordanne Nygren (1999-2000, 02-03). Cooper's 52 blasts now rank 22nd in NCAA Division I history.
Cooper's 20 home runs this season are just one shy of the Big Ten single-season record of 21. She has 61 RBIs on the year, which also is a school record.
The first milestone came early in this game, and it wasn't accomplished by Cooper. In the top of the first inning, senior Eileen Canney (Paradise, Calif./Paradise) struck out the second batter she faced to record the 1,000th K of her career.
Northwestern grabbed the first lead of the game in the bottom of the third courtesy of a one-out, solo home run from junior Darcy Sengewald (Frankfort, Ill./Lincoln Way East). Her third blast of the season staked the 'Cats to a 1-0 lead.
The Wildcats added another solo shot one inning later when freshman Nicole Pauly (Palatine, Ill./Palatine) led off the fourth inning with her seventh home run of the season, this one clearing the fence in right field.
In the bottom of the fifth, Cooper made history. Freshman Kelly Dyer (Homer Glen, Ill./Lockport) led off the frame with a hard-hit single into center, then moved to second on a sacrifice bunt by Sengewald. One out later, sophomore Tammy Williams (Roscoe, Mo./Osceola) was hit in the head by a Brittany Weil (15-6) offering to put runners at first and second.
Cooper then stepped to the plate and escorted the 52nd home run of her career over the fence in left field to blow the game open and give NU a five-run lead, 5-0.
Iowa got a run back in the top of the sixth after a walk and a pair of singles to make the score 5-1.
From there, Canney cruised the rest of the way to earn the win and improve to 22-8 on the season. She allowed one run on seven hits and one walk with seven strikeouts. She now has 1,006 Ks for her career.
Northwestern returns to action at noon CT tomorrow, Saturday, April 28, in the second game of its series against Iowa at Sharon J. Drysdale Field. The inaugural PURPLE AUCTION will immediately follow in Welsh-Ryan Arena.
