Northwestern University Athletics
Northwestern
Iowa
No. 14 Northwestern Shuts Out Iowa, 2-0
4/13/2008 12:00:00 AM | Softball
April 13, 2008
Box Score
IOWA CITY, Iowa -- No. 14 Northwestern got a pair of runs in the top of the fourth inning Sunday afternoon in the first game of a doubleheader against Iowa, and that was all sophomore Lauren Delaney (Jefferson City, Mo./Helias) needed in a 2-0 victory featuring a one-hit shutout by the Wildcats' ace.
The win was the 10th in a row for Northwestern, improving it to 23-9 overall on the season, 9-0 in the Big Ten. The loss drops Iowa to 28-13 on the year, 6-3 in the conference.
Delaney's ninth shutout of the season featured one hit and six walks with nine strikeouts on a day when both pitching staffs combined for 13 bases on balls. The sophomore now is 21-6 on the season with a perfect 9-0 mark in the conference.
Northwestern loaded the bases with two outs in the top of the first after Iowa starter Brittany Weil issued an intentional walk to junior Tammy Williams (Roscoe, Mo./Osceola) and regular walks to freshman Michelle Batts (Bloomingdale, Ill./Glenbard North) and junior Erin Dyer (Homer Glen, Ill./Lockport), but Weil escaped the stressful first inning with a strikeout.
Both Weil and Delaney did not allow a hit through the first three innings, but each put several runners on base. Weil walked six Wildcats in the first three innings, while Delaney issued bases on balls to four Hawkeyes during the same stretch.
Northwestern put the game's first hits and runs on the board to take a 2-0 lead in the top of the fourth. Sophomore Kelly Dyer (Homer Glen, Ill./Lockport) led off the frame with a triple to the wall in right field, her second triple in the last two games. One out later, senior Darcy Sengewald (Frankfort, Ill./Lincoln-Way East) laid down a perfect bunt through the charging infield for an RBI single to give NU a 1-0 lead.
Freshman Jordan Wheeler (Garden Grove, Calif./Los Alamitos) followed Sengewald with a bunt single of her own, then Weil issued Williams her third walk of the ball game to load the bases with one down. Batts followed with a single that fell just between the right fielder and second baseman down the right field line to score Sengewald, but the confusion on the base paths over whether the ball would be caught led to Batts being tagged out off first for the second out of the inning.
Delaney had a no-hitter going until the fifth inning when Iowa put its first two runners on base with a walk and a soft-liner single into left field. Northwestern's defense then took over, with freshman Robin Thompson (Detroit, Mich./Martin Luther King) getting the lead runner at third on a sacrifice bunt attempt before catcher Erin Dyer picked off the runner at second base to start a 2-4-5-8 rundown for the second out of the frame. Delaney then coaxed a pop up back to herself to end the inning with no runs across.
From there, both Weil (17-10) and Delaney cruised into the finish, although the Hawkeyes did put a runner on base with two outs in the bottom of the seventh on an NU error before Delaney closed out the game with her ninth strikeout.
