Northwestern Breaks Away From Southern Miss, 4-2

3/4/2011 12:00:00 AM | Softball

March 4, 2011

Box Score

Site: Fullerton, Calif. (South Field)
Score: Northwestern 4, Southern Miss 2
Records: NU (9-5), Southern Miss (8-9)
Next NU Event: March 5, 2011 -- vs. Cal State Northridge (DeMarini Invitational), 5:45 p.m. CT

FULLERTON, Calif. -- Northwestern broke a tie ballgame in the bottom of the sixth inning Friday afternoon against Southern Miss at the DeMarini Invitational, scoring a pair of runs earn a 4-2 victory.

With the win, Northwestern improves to 9-5 overall on the season, 2-0 at the DeMarini Invitational. Southern Miss falls to 8-9 on the year with its loss.

Southern Miss opened the scoring in the top of the first against NU starter Meghan Lamberth (Wildwood, Mo./Lafayette), getting a pair of one-out singles and an error to load the bases before taking a 1-0 lead on a sacrifice fly.

Northwestern bounced back immediately to open its offensive efforts. Emily Allard (Antioch, Calif./Deer Valley) reached base on an error to lead off the bottom of the first. She stole second, then moved to third on a wild pitch and scored on a passed ball to knot the game, 1-1.

The Wildcats continued to score in the bottom of the second. Kelly Quinn (Northbrook, Ill./Glenbrook North) and Jordan Wheeler (Garden Grove, Calif./Los Alamitos) both reached base via one-out singles, moving up a bag on a passed ball. Kristin Scharkey (Yorba Linda, Calif./Esperanza) then drove in Quinn with a single back to the pitcher that she was unable to handle, giving NU a 2-1 lead going into the third inning.

Southern Miss fought back in its half of the third, moving a leadoff single around the bases until driving her home with a two-out single to knot the game again, 2-2.

From that point, both USM's starter and Lamberth settled into the circle and recorded out after out in rapid fire succession behind help from the defenses. After the Golden Eagles' run in the third, the two pitchers combined to notch just one out via the K until Lamberth fanned the final USM batter in the top of the sixth.

To begin the bottom of the sixth, Southern Miss lifted starter Courtney Ramos in favor of Gabby Luciani (2-2). The first two pitches the new Golden Eagle threw were tagged illegal by the umpires, eventually leading to a leadoff walk for Marisa Bast (Orange, Calif./Villa Park). One out later, Quinn rapped a single back through the middle to move Bast to second. Wheeler then lifted a ball over the second baseman's head and into right, but Quinn misread it and could not get to second in time to avoid the force out. With Bast now at third, Scharkey ripped a single into center to push the Wildcats into the lead, 3-2.

The inning continued when Allard notched her first hit of the game to load the bases with two down, then an illegal pitch call pushed everyone up and Wheeler across the plate to extend the cushion to 4-2.

Lamberth (7-0) closed the door in the seventh to earn the win, allowing two runs (one earned) on six hits and no walks with four strikeouts.

Both Quinn and Scharkey went 2-for-3 at the plate for NU, with Scharkey driving in a pair of runs.

Northwestern returns to action at 5:45 p.m. CT Saturday, March 5, against Cal State Northridge at the DeMarini Invitational. Immediately after that game, NU will take on Oregon State.

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