Northwestern University Athletics
Northwestern
8-14
University of Tennessee at Chattanooga
17-9
Team Stats
Pitching:
W: Taylor Deason (11-4)
L: Albanese, Sammy (1-2)
Batting:
2B: Jessica Traxler 1 ; Sarah Beth Roberts 1
3B: Kasey Tydingco 1
HR: Jessica Traxler 1
RBI: Kasey Tydingco 1 ; Jessica Traxler 1 ; Sarah Beth Roberts 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Sara Poteat 1 ; Michelle Fuzzard 1 ; Kasey Tydingco 1 ; Jessica Traxler 3
HBP: Nicole Osterman 1
Batting:
RBI: Bast, Marisa 1 ; Edwards, Anna 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Allard, Emily 1 ; Majam, Mari 1
SB: Majam, Mari 1
Game Leaders
Players Mentioned
Wildcats Fall to Lady Mocs, 6-2
3/17/2012 12:00:00 AM | Softball
Northwestern now is 8-14 overall on the season with its loss while Chattanooga's win improves the Lady Mocs to 17-9 on the season.
The Lady Mocs put a pair of runners on base in the top of the first via walks against Wildcats' starter Sammy Albanese (Belmont, Calif./Castilleja), but the inning ended with no runs across after left fielder Mari Majam (Pine Valley, Calif./Mountain Empire) got on her horse and rode it to the fence in the gap to make the grab on a deep fly.
Northwestern strung together a two-out rally in the bottom half of the first when Adrienne Monka (Rancho Cucamonga, Calif./Rancho Cucamonga) drew a walk and Marisa Bast (Orange, Calif./Villa Park) scalded a single into left, but a grounder back up the middle from Anna Edwards (La Canada, Calif./La Canada) was met at the second base bag by the fielder for an inning-ending force out.
Chattanooga put the game's first run on the board in the top of the second with a leadoff solo home run, then the next batter hit a bouncing ball toward short that took a hop nearly over Emily Allard's (Antioch, Calif./Deer Valley) head. At that point, Amy Letourneau (Laguna Niguel, Calif./Santa Margarita Catholic) entered the circle in relief of Albanese. The Lady Mocs proceeded to load the bases with two down before Letourneau induced a pop up to herself from the No. 3 batter to keep the deficit at 1-0 after one-and-a-half innings of play.
Letourneau fanned the first two batters of the third inning looking before trouble found her in the form of a walk and a hit batter. The next Lady Moc to the plate hit a ground-rule double to make it a 2-0 score and Meghan Lamberth (Wildwood, Mo./Lafayette) entered in relief of Letourneau, whiffing the first batter she faced on three pitches to keep NU's deficit at two runs.
Northwestern fought back in the bottom of the third. Majam beat out a one-out infield single, then stole second with two outs on the board (the second out came when Monka annihilated a pitch that found the left fielder more in self defense than in softball defense). Bast then shot a single back through the middle that brought Majam home to cut the deficit in half, 2-1.
The inning continued when an Edwards' grounder to short was booted for an error, pushing Bast to third, but the Lady Mocs did make the play on the next ground ball to end the frame.
Chattanooga's offense continued chugging in the fourth, getting runners to second and third with one out on a pair a singles and some speedy base running. The next batter hit a grounder to Edwards at second, who did a fantastic job holding the runner at third before getting the out at first. A wild pitch, however, allowed that lead run to come home and make it a 3-1 game. The same fate befell the Wildcats in the fifth inning when Lamberth held the batters in check following an early rally, but a run did come home on a passed ball to push NU's deficit to 4-1 prior to the bottom of the fifth.
Chattanooga kept the pressure on in the sixth, turning a leadoff walk into two more runs when a throwing error bringing the ball back in on a triple allowed the batter-runner to come all the way around to score and make it a 6-1 game. In the bottom of the frame, Albanese laced a one-out single into left field and aggressively moved to second on a wild pitch, sliding in safely with a wonderful maneuver. Her potential run was stranded, however, in part when a Letourneau line shot was gloved neatly by the second baseman.
Letourneau re-entered the circle in relief of Lamberth in the seventh inning, retiring the side in order with a pair of strikeouts. In the bottom of the seventh, Allard led off with a base knock to right field, then was safe when the second baseman bobbled the ball attempting to get the lead out on a Majam grounder. Monka then drew a walk to load the bases with no outs, giving way to pinch runner Amanda Mehrsheikh (Chesterfield, Mo./Parkway Central). The walk, incidentally, was the 158th of Monka's career, tying her with Garland Cooper (2004-07) for the all-time Northwestern record.
One out later, Edwards drew a full-count walk to force Allard home and bring the tying run to the plate, but Albanese's last-ditch grand slam attempt was tracked down just in front of the right field fence to end the game.
Bast led Northwestern at the plate with a trio of hits, matching her single-game career best for hits previously achieved against Colorado State on Feb. 25 of this season.
Albanese (1-2) started the game in the circle and went one-plus innings, allowing one run on two hits and two walks to take the loss. Letourneau spread her work out over 2.2 innings of relief, giving up a run on a hit and three walks with four strikeouts. Lamberth tossed 3.1 innings in the circle, allowing four runs (two earned) on five hits and two walks with three strikeouts.
Northwestern concludes its USF Invite schedule at 10:15 a.m. CT/11:15 a.m. ET tomorrow, Sunday, March 18, against LIU Brooklyn.
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