Northwestern University Athletics
In Matchup of Northwestern and Purdue, Rain Declared Winner
4/27/2011 12:00:00 AM | Softball
April 27, 2011
WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. -- Northwestern and Purdue did everything in their power to play through the turbulent weather the nation has been experiencing this week, but the rain finally won the day after two-plus innings of play, washing out the entire scheduled doubleheader between the squads.
The games are the 10th and 11th NU has had rained out this season, the vast majority of which came during Northwestern's California swing early in the schedule. The Wildcats lost three games to rain at the San Diego Classic in February before the entire Louisville Slugger Classic in Stanford was wiped out in mid-March.
The game began under dark clouds, with Adrienne Monka (Rancho Cucamonga, Calif./Rancho Cucamonga) drawing a two-out walk in the top of the first. NU starter Jessica Smith (Encinitas, Calif./La Costa Canyon) fanned the first two Boilermakers she saw in the bottom of the first before ending the inning on a foul pop out to Robin Thompson (Detroit, Mich./Martin Luther King) at third.
In the top of the second, senior Jordan Wheeler (Garden Grove, Calif./Los Alamitos) bounced a single back through the middle with one out that would have extended her current hitting streak to 13 games. She remained stranded at first, however, when the inning ended.
With rain picking up significantly, Smith issued a leadoff walk in the bottom of the second. The next batter tried a sacrifice bunt, but Monka alertly charged it from first and erased the lead runner at second. Smith then got a strikeout before freshman catcher Paige Tonz (Peoria, Ariz./Centennial) fired through the rain to throw out the Boilermaker on base trying to steal to end the second.
In the top of the third, Kristin Scharkey (Yorba Linda, Calif./Esperanza) saw three pitches and faced a 1-2 count when the clouds shifted into fourth gear with their rain production, leading to the tarping of the field. Teams waited more than two hours before standing water and unrelenting precipitation finally forced cancelation of the whole series.
Northwestern returns to action at 5 p.m. CT Saturday, April 30, at Illinois in a game televised by the Big Ten Network. Note: The start time is three hours later than originally announced after it was moved to television in recent weeks.
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