Northwestern
23-18, 11-6
Ohio State University
25-20, 8-10
Team Stats
Pitching:
W: Wood, Kristen (12-8)
L: O'Reilly, Olivia (12-8)
Batting:
RBI: Prantl, Cammi 1 ; McIntyre, Maddy 1 ; Leonard, Erika 3 ; Kirk, Anna 1 ; Saibene, Jayla 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Conrad, Caitlin 2 ; Prantl, Cammi 2 ; Kirk, Anna 1 ; Bayne, Alex 1 ; Saibene, Jayla 1
HBP: Watkins, Taylor 1
Batting:
2B: Nettling, Sammy 1 ; Kuhn, Julia 1
RBI: Nettling, Sammy 2 ; Kuhn, Julia 3
Base Running:
RUNS: Rabin, Sabrina 2 ; DiPrima, Andrea 1 ; Williams, Krista 1 ; Filler, Andrea 2 ; Nettling, Sammy 2 ; Strub, Fran 1
HBP: Marquez, Brooke 1
Game Leaders
Players Mentioned
Northwestern Thwarts Ohio State Comeback, 9-7
4/24/2015 12:00:00 AM | Softball
Northwestern (23-18, 11-6 Big Ten) and Ohio State (25-20, 8-10 Big Ten) continue their series at noon CT tomorrow, Saturday, April 25. Immediately following the game is the ninth-annual Purple Auction in Welsh-Ryan Arena. Join the Wildcats to celebrate the 2015 Senior Class with great food, drink and auction items! The dinner and auction is $50 per person ($20 for children 16 & under).
Ohio State loaded the bases in the top of the first against Northwestern starter Kristen Wood (Trevor, Wis./Wilmot Union), but the Wildcat got a lazy fly to left to keep Ohio State scoreless, enabling NU to take the first lead in the bottom half with a 10-batter trip around the order.
Sabrina Rabin (St. Charles, Ill./St. Charles North) led off the Wildcats' first with a single into left field before quickly moving to second and then third on a pair of wild pitches. Andrea DiPrima (Arlington Heights, Ill./Buffalo Grove) used those wild pitches to help draw a walk, then Andrea Filler (Fort Wayne, Ind./Bishop Dwenger) walked to load the bases with no outs.
Sammy Nettling (Tucson, Ariz./Canyon del Oro) began the scoring with a typical grounder toward short that took an atypical hop through the fielder's wickets for a two-run error. One out later, Julia Kuhn (Middletown, N.J./Middletown South) hit a hopper toward second that the fielder whiffed to allow two more runs to come home on the second error in the inning, giving NU a 4-0 lead going into the second frame.
In the bottom of the second, the Wildcats added to their lead on another Buckeyes miscue. With one out, Filler drew her second walk of the game, but was erased on a Nettling fielder's choice ball. Amy Letourneau (Laguna Niguel, Calif./Santa Margarita Catholic) then smoked a two-out single to right that bounced through the right fielder for an error, allowing Nettling to score all the way from first and make it a 5-0 game. After the hit, Ohio State lifted starter Olivia O'Reilly in favor of Shelby Hursh, who successfully stranded Letourneau at third.
Ohio State put its leadoff batter aboard on a walk in the top of the third, but Wood came back to strike out the next three batters and give herself four Ks in the contest. She then notched two more strikeouts during a 1-2-3 fourth.
In the bottom of the fourth, DiPrima walked to lead off the inning. Krista Williams (Pleasanton, Calif./Canyon del Oro) entered to run for her, then raced up to second on a Filler base hit. Both runners advance on a wild pitch before Letourneau walked to load the bases. Fran Strub (Coralville, Iowa./Clear Creek Amana) entered to run for Letourneau, then another wild pitch pushed everyone up and Williams across the plate. Kuhn then ripped a two-run double into left center to send the game into run-rule territory, 8-0.
Wood took the circle in the top of the fifth and fanned the first batter before Ohio State rallied to keep the contest going. With runners at second and third on a walk and OSU's first hit of the contest, a pair of two-out singles brought two runs in to make the score 8-2. The Buckeyes threatened to add more with the bases loaded later in the frame, but Wood got a 3-2 backward K to end the rally.
In the bottom of the fifth, Brooke Marquez (Garden Grove, Calif./Pacifica) was hit by a pitch, but erased on a fielder's choice grounder off the bat of Rabin. Later, with two outs and runners at the corners following a DiPrima single, Nettling blasted a double to the fence in right center to bring Rabin home and send DiPrima to third. The inning ended with NU up 9-2.
Letourneau entered the circle in relief of Wood to start the top of the sixth, and Ohio State was able to load the bases against her with two outs. A two-run single followed to cut NU's advantage to 9-4 entering the bottom half.
Olivia Duehr (Antioch, Ill./Antioch) worked a one-out walk in the sixth with Marissa Panko (Naperville, Ill./Benet Academy) entering to run for her at the same time that Alex DiDomenico entered the circle as Ohio State's third hurler of the game. With two outs, she gave up a screamer to Marquez to left, but the left fielder was able to retreat and reach up to grab it as it whizzed by her head to end the inning.
Ohio State rallied for the third-straight inning in the top of the seventh, getting three runs in and the tying run to first base before an infield pop-up ended the game.
Kuhn had three RBIs for NU at the plate while Nettling drove in two and scored twice. Filler and Rabin each crossed home twice, as well.
Wood (12-8) earned the win, going 5.0 innings in the start and allowing two runs on three hits and six walks with eight strikeouts. Letourneau tossed the final two frames, giving up five runs on six hits and three walks with two strikeouts.
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