Northwestern University Athletics
Season Recap: Big Ten Championship Double-Dip Highlights 2008
7/1/2008 12:00:00 AM | Softball
July 1, 2008
2008 Final Release (PDF Format) 
EVANSTON, Ill. -- From the best opening weekend in school history to the program's first double-dip of Big Ten gold, the 2008 Northwestern campaign was a study in how great individual efforts combine to form great team performances. Every Wildcat on the roster had a big moment in a game, and every game saw the Wildcats build momentum in yet another season of successful softball in Evanston.
For the first time in 26 years of Big Ten play, Northwestern captured both the conference's regular-season and tournament championships in the same year. The regular-season title is NU's seventh overall, while the win in the Big Ten Tournament held at Sharon J. Drysdale Field was made even more special by the fact the event was the last for the foreseeable future; the tournament will be discontinued in 2009 in favor of an extended regular-season slate.
Northwestern's 18-2 Big Ten record was the best in school history in terms of winning percentage, and marked NU's most wins in conference play since the Wildcats were 19-9 in 1995 during an era when league teams played four-game sets against each other. The Wildcats' dominant run to the Tournament title set an event record for fewest runs allowed (0) after NU run-ruled Ohio State, 8-0, and Minnesota, 12-0, before defeating Iowa, 1-0, in the title tilt.
Featuring one of the youngest teams in school history -- 12 of the 17 Wildcats on the opening day roster were freshmen or sophomores -- Northwestern did not play like a youthful squad. One of the cornerstones of head coach Kate Drohan's philosophy is that freshman are not freshman anymore by the time spring rolls around, and that mantra played itself out over the course of the year. All four offensive freshmen earned starting roles during the season, and every single Wildcat stepped up into the spotlight at least once.
The season began with the best start in school history, when Northwestern defeated No. 3 Texas A&M and No. 1 Arizona at the Kajikawa Classic in Tempe, Ariz., en route to its first perfect opening weekend ever. The Wildcats averaged 9.5 runs per game in their four wins in the desert, and received the program's first-ever No. 1 vote in the polls -- ending up at No. 2 in the rankings.
Freshman Michelle Batts (Bloomingdale, Ill./Glenbard West) kicked off her college career in spectacular fashion, hitting a single in her first at-bat before homering in her second off Aggie All-American Amanda Scarborough. In the seventh inning of that game, which was delayed two days because of rain, sophomore Ashley Lafever (Bettendorf, Iowa./Pleasant Valley) made a game-saving catch of a sure home run ball in the seventh inning to preserve NU's victory over the eventual national runners-up.
In the second game of the year versus the Pac-10 Wildcats, junior Jessica Rigas (River Forest, Ill./Oak Park River Forest) hit a solo homer off 2007 WCWS MVP Taryne Mowatt as part of a 12-hit barrage that helped NU to its first-ever win over Arizona.
Junior Tammy Williams (Roscoe, Mo./Osceola) began the year with hits in her first six official at-bats, finishing the weekend with a .786 batting average to earn Louisville Slugger/NFCA National Player of the Week honors.
The next weekend at the star-studded Palm Springs Classic, sophomore Lauren Delaney (Jefferson City, Mo./Helias) wrote the first chapter of what would become one of the best seasons of any pitcher in the nation in 2008. In NU's first game, Delaney fanned a seven-inning career-best 17 batters and allowed only two walks for a no-hitter against Oregon -- the first of a school-single-season record five on the year for Delaney.
The following day against No. 6 LSU, sophomore Nicole Pauly (Palatine, Ill./Palatine) jacked a three-run, sixth-inning home run to give NU a come-from-behind, 6-4 victory. Pauly would finish the year with a team-best 15 home runs, giving her 29 for her career.
The very next contest saw Northwestern fall behind No. 25 Texas, 4-0, before sophomore Kelly Dyer (Homer Glen, Ill./Lockport) crushed a three-run jack of her own to jump-start a five-run rally that gave NU a 5-4 win.
Freshman pitcher Jessica Smith (Encinitas, Calif./La Costa Canyon) picked up her first-collegiate shutout at NU's next tournament March 2 against eventual NCAA Tournament qualifier Western Illinois, scattering three-hits in the run-rule victory.
Northwestern then hit a tough stretch in the road, losing six-of-seven games over its next two tournaments to enter Big Ten play with a 13-9 overall record. The experience served well to build character within the young squad and set the stage for the Wildcats' best Big Ten season in school history. Case-in-point, freshman Jordan Wheeler (Garden Grove, Calif./Los Alamitos) stepped into the upper part of the lineup against No. 6 UCLA during this tough stretch after enduring a 1-for-24 start to her college career. Wheeler responded with a base hit to start a late-inning rally, showing plate poise that eventually earned her the leadoff role in the NU lineup for the rest of the year. She finished her freshman season with a .255 batting average.
In the opening conference contest against Wisconsin, Delaney fired her third no-hitter of the year in a 10-0 NU victory. The next game saw junior Erin Dyer (Homer Glen, Ill./Lockport) club a grand slam to earn the Wildcats a 4-3 victory and NU officially was off and running with the great individual moments piling up.
Sophomore Emily Haug (Jefferson City, Mo./Helias) picked a fantastic time to hit her first-career home run, blasting a pinch-hit, three-run job in the bottom of the seventh on March 30 to give Northwestern a walk-off victory over Minnesota. Williams tied a school single-game record with eight RBIs on two grand slams in the Wildcats' second game versus the Gophers.
On April 20 against Purdue, freshman Robin Thompson (Detroit, Mich./Martin Luther King) also hit a walk-off home run for her first-career blast, ending the game in run-rule fashion with a two-run, fifth-inning shot.
At Penn State on April 25, Delaney turned in one of the all-time great pitching performances in school history. In a 14-inning marathon eventually won by the 'Cats, 1-0, Delaney fanned a career-best 18 batters while allowing just four hits. At one point from the sixth to the 13th innings, she retired 21 batters in a row -- a perfect game under normal circumstances.
The next day against the Nitanny Lions, Williams, Batts and Pauly hit back-to-back-to-back home runs in the fifth inning before Pauly launched her second shot of the game in the seventh to give NU a 6-5 victory and set up a title showdown in Ann Arbor, Mich., the following day.
Entering the April 26th doubleheader, NU and Michigan were tied atop the league standings with four games to play. A sweep by either team would clinch a share of the conference crown along with hosting duties for the final Big Ten Tournament. In the first game, freshman Kelly Quinn (Northbrook, Ill./Glenbrook North) slapped a sixth-inning RBI single to give NU a 2-1 win in front of more than 2,000 fans in Ann Arbor. Game two saw Northwestern take a 2-0 lead when sophomore Aly Euler (River Forest, Ill./Oak Park River Forest) scored from second on a base knock, but the Wolverines would take advantage of NU miscues in the bottom of the seventh to score three times for a 3-2 win, setting the stage for the final weekend of play.
Facing Michigan State the next weekend and needing to sweep the series to guarantee the Big Ten title, Northwestern jacked three home runs in the first game for a 6-3 win. The second day, on Senior Day and Darcy Sengewald (Frankfort, Ill./Lincoln-Way East) bobblehead day, the senior Sengewald took center stage. D-Money, as the nickname goes, clubbed a solo home run in her final regular-season home contest, then helped lift the trophy as NU celebrated its seventh Big Ten championship.
In the Big Ten Tournament, the Wildcats blazed through the bracket before getting a solo home run in the title game from Erin Dyer to win the league's tournament crown as well. Lauren Delaney was named the Tournament's MVP after allowing no runs and five hits while fanning 24 in 17.0 innings of work to pick up three shutout victories. She also picked up Louisville Slugger/NFCA and USA Softball National Player of the Week honors for her performance.
Northwestern drew the No. 11 seed for the NCAA Tournament, its fourth-straight year with a seed, and earned the right to host its Regional for the third-straight season. NU had a tough task in the bracket, taking on fellow 2007 World Series participant DePaul, with the two teams eventually squaring off in a winner-take-all if necessary game. In one of the best softball contests of the season, Northwestern took a 3-0 fifth-inning lead on an RBI double by Wheeler before DePaul crept to within one in the bottom half of the frame.
In the bottom of the seventh, back-to-back leadoff singles by DePaul put runners at second and third with no outs before Delaney calmly got a strikeout, a groundout and a strikeout to end the threat and give NU its fourth-straight NCAA Regional title.
Although the season would end short of the World Series after eventual national champion Arizona State swept Northwestern in the Tempe Super Regional, it still qualified as a successful softball season. Northwestern reached the 40-win plateau for the fourth-straight year, finishing 40-16 overall and No. 11 in the NFCA coaches poll.
Northwestern's young guns picked up plenty of awards. A school-record eight Wildcats were named All-Big Ten, all of them on either the first or second team. Williams was named Big Ten Player of the Year, while Delaney picked up conference Pitcher of the Year honors, marking the fourth-straight season the Player of the Year and third-consecutive year the Pitcher of the Year accolades have resided in Evanston.
Williams and Pauly both began the year on USA Softball's National Player of the Year watch list, with Williams making the cut all the way down to the last 10 finalists.
Delaney, Pauly and Williams earned first-team NFCA All-Mideast Region accolades, while Erin Dyer and Batts were tabbed second teamers. For the third year in a row, Williams was named an NFCA All-American, collecting her second-straight first-team nod to become the third player in program history with three-All-America honors.
Delaney's season bears special mention here. Although denied All-America honors through what can only be described as a glaring voting oversight, Delaney put together the finest season in NU history and one of the best in the entire nation. While setting a school record with 37 wins and tying another with five no-hitters, Delaney finished in the top-10 in the nation in victories, hits allowed and strikeouts. Her 461 K's fell just eight shy of the NU single-season record of 469 set in 1984 by Lisa Ishikawa -- a number which at the time was an NCAA single-season record that stood for nearly a decade.
Keep in mind, all of Delaney's stats in the above paragraph came while facing the nation's 10th toughest strength of schedule.
Williams broke school records with a .440 batting average and a .538 on-base percentage, leading the nation for most of the season in batting until dipping in late April. The junior already owns school career records for runs scored and batting average, and is on pace to take down several more next year.
The sisters' Dyer had great bounce back years for NU. Erin Dyer put together a spectacular season, batting .308 with 13 home runs as a junior after a sophomore season with a .203 average. Her sister Kelly, who batted .161 as a freshman last year, was a full .101 points higher with a .262 mark and a nearly .400 slugging percentage in 2008.
Sengewald -- the only senior on the NU squad -- concluded her career with the most wins of anyone to ever lace up the purple cleats. Sengewald was a part of 184 wins at Northwestern, and ranked third in NU history with 91 walks and sixth with 112 runs scored. She earned a starting spot four years ago as a freshman, and never relinquished her spot in the lineup -- she ranks fourth in school history with 230 games started.
While every Wildcat contributed in big moments and in big games at some point during the year, one in particular made her impact behind the scenes. Following offseason surgery, junior Gina Gonzalez (LaVerne, Calif./Bonita) appeared in eight games for NU off the bench before having to sit out the remainder of the year due to the injury. Called "one of the great personalities on our team," by Drohan, Gonzalez -- the president of NU's Student-Athlete Advisory Council (SAAC) -- played an integral leadership role on the team.
While 2008 was far and away a story of success and championships for Northwestern softball, the squad still fell short of its stated goal of a national title. With the experience gained during the building process from the start of the year to the end, expect a 'Cat-tastic return to Oklahoma City in 2009.
