Northwestern
20-11, 8-0
Purdue University
24-14, 4-5
Team Stats
Pitching:
W: Wood, Kristen (9-3)
L: Fecho, Lilly (15-10)
Batting:
RBI: Gooding, Mary 1
SF: Gooding, Mary 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Koorsen, Alyssa 1
SB: Burkhardt, Ashley 1
Batting:
2B: Filler, Andrea 1 ; Duehr, Olivia 1
HR: DiPrima, Andrea 1
RBI: DiPrima, Andrea 3 ; Letourneau, Amy 2
Base Running:
RUNS: Rabin, Sabrina 1 ; DiPrima, Andrea 1 ; Filler, Andrea 1 ; Duehr, Olivia 1 ; Williams, Krista 1
SB: Rabin, Sabrina 1
Game Leaders
Players Mentioned
Northwestern Sweeps Purdue, 5-1, Remains Atop B1G Standings
4/5/2015 12:00:00 AM | Softball
EVANSTON, Ill. -- Northwestern used a pair of big rallies Sunday and a career-best strikeout effort from Kristen Wood (Trevor, Wis./Wilmot Union) to defeat Purdue, 5-1, and sweep the series against the Boilermakers, keeping the Wildcats atop the Big Ten standings as the conference's lone unbeaten team.
Northwestern now is 17-2 in its last 19 games and moves to 20-11 overall on the season, 8-0 in the Big Ten. Purdue falls to 24-14 with its loss, 4-5 in the conference.
Northwestern returns to action in a 4 p.m. CT Wednesday, April 8, midweek game against UIC at Sharon J. Drysdale Field before traveling to No. 14 Minnesota for a conference series April 10-12.
As was the case in both of the earlier games in this series, Purdue ace Lilly Fecho and Northwestern's starter were dominant in the early going. Wood fanned the side in both the first and second innings and racked up eight total strikeouts in the first three combined.
Though Fecho held NU without a hit in the first two innings, Northwestern started pounding the ball with two outs in the third. Anna Edwards (La Canada, Calif./La Canada) led off the frame with a walk and gave way to pinch runner Marissa Panko (Naperville, Ill./Benet Academy). Panko was erased on an Olivia Duehr (Antioch, Ill./Antioch) fielder's choice ball, and Duehr still stood at first with two outs. That's when senior Andrea DiPrima (Arlington Heights, Ill./Buffalo Grove) extended her career-best hitting streak to 15 games with a two-run home run into the left-field bleachers.
The shot was DiPrima's eighth of the year and the 12th of her career. Following the homer, junior Andrea Filler (Fort Wayne, Ind./Bishop Dwenger) roped a double to left and Amy Letourneau (Laguna Niguel, Calif./Santa Margarita Catholic) singled out into right center to bring Filler around for a 3-0 Northwestern lead after three innings.
Purdue immediately threatened a big inning of its own in the top of the fourth, loading the bases with no outs. Wood notched her ninth strikeout of the game for out number one, then coaxed a fly ball to Duehr in left for a sacrifice fly. Duehr made the catch and Edwards alertly cut the throw to the plate to help nail the trail runner and end the inning with just the one run across.
Purdue strung together back-to-back two-out sharp singles in the top of the fifth and then nearly had a jam-shot floater fall in for an RBI hit, but Brianna LeBeau (Worth, Ill./H.L. Richards) ranged over into the right-side hole and flashed the leather on a dive to end the rally.
It was Northwestern's turn to rally once again in the bottom of the fifth, and the Wildcats cashed in. Duehr started the fun with a double over the head of the left-fielder before Krista Williams (Pleasanton, Calif./Amador Valley) came in to run. Williams moved to third on a passed ball, then Sabrina Rabin (St. Charles, Ill./St. Charles North) joined her on base with a pitch-perfect infield single. After Rabin stole second, DiPrima popped a ball over the head of the drawn-in infield to bring in Williams and make it a 4-1 game. Letourneau followed with a rope into center to drive home Rabin, and that hit finally knocked Fecho from the circle for the first time in the series.
The new Purdue pitcher, Gina Snyder, walked Sammy Nettling (Tucson, Ariz./Canyon del Oro) to load the bases before retiring the next two Wildcats to keep NU's lead at four runs, 5-1. Rabin's hit during the inning extended her current hitting streak to 14 games.
Wood struck out three more in the top of the sixth to match her career-best single-game total of 13, which she established in Friday's win over Purdue. In the top of the seventh, she struck out the very first batter to move that career-high up a notch to 14 en route to her complete-game victory.
Wood (9-3) fanned those 14 while allowing one run on six hits and three walks in 7.0 innings. At the plate, DiPrima led the Wildcats with a 2-for-4 day, driving in three runs. Letourneau went 2-for-3 with two RBIs.
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