Northwestern
27-19, 14-7
University of Iowa
16-39, 7-15
Team Stats
Pitching:
W: Duehr, Olivia (1-2)
L: Yoways, Ashley (2-16)
Batting:
2B: Kuhn, Julia 1 ; Letourneau, Amy 1
3B: Kuhn, Julia 1
RBI: DiPrima, Andrea 1 ; Filler, Andrea 1 ; Nettling, Sammy 2 ; Kuhn, Julia 3 ; Letourneau, Amy 2 ; Edwards, Anna 1
SF: Nettling, Sammy 1 ; Edwards, Anna 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Rabin, Sabrina 2 ; DiPrima, Andrea 2 ; Filler, Andrea 1 ; Kuhn, Julia 3 ; Letourneau, Amy 1 ; Williams, Krista 1 ; LeBeau, Brianna 1
SB: Rabin, Sabrina 1
Batting:
2B: Wood, Allie 1
HR: Erickson, Erin 1
RBI: Gyerman, Sammi 2 ; Wood, Allie 2 ; Erickson, Erin 2
Base Running:
RUNS: Fritsch, Claire 2 ; Hansel, Haley 1 ; Mullarkey, Kaitlyn 1 ; Erickson, Erin 1 ; Pratt, Cheyenne 1
Game Leaders
Players Mentioned
Northwestern Outslugs Iowa, 11-6
5/2/2015 12:00:00 AM | Softball
IOWA CITY, Iowa -- Northwestern built an eight-run lead in the early going Saturday at Iowa before holding off a late Hawkeyes' rally for an 11-6 win and a 2-0 lead in the series.
Northwestern (27-19, 14-7 Big Ten) and Iowa (16-39, 7-15 Big Ten) conclude their series and the regular season at 1 p.m. CT tomorrow, Sunday, May 3.
After Friday's throwback 1-0 victory, Northwestern went off for a four-run first inning to set the tone early in Saturday's second contest. Sabrina Rabin (St. Charles, Ill./St. Charles North), Andrea DiPrima (Arlington Heights, Ill./Buffalo Grove) and Andrea Filler (Fort Wayne, Ind./Bishop Dwenger) led off the game with three-straight singles to load the bases. Sammy Nettling (Tucson, Ariz./Canyon del Oro) started the scoring with an RBI groundout before Julia Kuhn (Middletown, N.J./Middletown South) -- yesterday's hero with a solo home run to account for all of the scoring -- smashed a two-run double to right. Amy Letourneau (Laguna Niguel, Calif./Santa Margarita Catholic) brought Kuhn home with a single to center, bringing the score to 4-0 before Iowa was able to end the scoring via a double play.
Duehr made her third-career start in the game for Northwestern and worked around a one-out error in the bottom of the first to keep the Wildcats' four-run edge intact going into the second. In the second, a miscue allowed the leadoff Hawkeye to reach second on what ended up being called a double, but Duehr retired the next three batters in order to leave her standing right there.
In the top of the third, Northwestern added a couple of runs on a pair of two-out extra-base hits. DiPrima led off with her second hit of the game, and remained at first two outs later. Kuhn then blasted a triple -- the first of the senior's career -- to bring DiPrima home before coming in herself on a Letourneau double to extend the lead to 6-0. Coupled with her home run and single in Friday's game, and her double in Saturday's first inning, Kuhn recorded the series cycle in just five at-bats.
Another NU error in the third put Hawkeyes at first and third with two outs, but yet again Duehr got out of the threat to keep Iowa from chomping into the Northwestern lead.
That lead grew to eight runs with another rally in the top of the fourth, started by an Anna Edwards (La Canada, Calif./La Canada) walk and a Brianna LeBeau (Worth, Ill./H.L. Richards) single. At that point, Iowa lifted starting pitcher Ashley Yoways for Jillian Navarrete, but the momentum did not stop. Rabin greeted the new hurler with a bases-loading infield single before Navarrete issued a four-pitch, RBI walk to DiPrima.
After ball one to Filler, Iowa immediately went back to the bullpen to bring game one starter Shayla Starkenburg back to the circle. Filler smoked a pitch toward the hole in short, but Iowa's shortstop was able to dive and backhand it on a hop, getting up to make the force play at third while LeBeau scampered home for an 8-0 NU lead. Iowa then got a line drive double play to end the inning.
With one out in the bottom of the fourth, Iowa finally got to Duehr with a solo home run to make the score 8-1. The inning continued with a pair of singles that put runners at second and third with two outs before an infield single and a throwing error on the play brought two more runs in to make it an 8-3 game heading to the fifth inning.
In that fifth, the #B1GCats put two more on the board. Kuhn led off with a single for her third hit of the game and moved around to third when Letourneau and Duehr walked to load the bases. After an illegal pitch call sent Kuhn to the plate, Edwards hit a high fly ball to center that was caught deep enough for Letourneau to race home for NU's 10th run of the contest, push the lead back out to seven runs, 10-3.
After finding its offensive rhythm in the fourth, Iowa continued scoring in the fifth. A pair of leadoff walks came around on two singles, but Northwestern was able to make an out on the base paths on that second single, nailing a greedy trail runner trying to move to second base. Duehr responded by retiring the next two Hawkeyes with grounders to the left side of the infield, keeping NU's lead at five runs, 10-5.
NU tacked on one more run in the top of the sixth, starting the inning with a Rabin single and steal. She moved to third when Filler singled into left, then came home on a Nettling sacrifice fly.
Back-to-back singles led off the bottom of the sixth for Iowa before Duehr retired the Nos. 3 and 4 batters in the order. The Hawkeyes would scratch across one run with the rally, but Duehr got a bases-loaded infield pop up to maintain a five run edge, 11-6, to the seventh.
Northwestern loaded the bases with two outs in the seventh on a Letourneau single, an Edwards single and a Rabin walk, but Iowa was able to hold the Wildcats scoreless for the first time since the second inning. The lead Hawkeye then reached in the bottom of the seventh, but Filler made an incredible, leaping, tip-of-the-glove catch against the next batter that was so wonderful, the runner at first thought the catch would not be made and took off for second, allowing Filler to double her up. A much more routine grounder to Filler followed, ending the game.
Duehr (1-2) picked up the very first win of her (brief) career in the circle, allowing six runs (five earned) on 10 hits and six walks with one strikeout over a 7.0-inning complete game.
Kuhn again led NU at the plate, falling a home run shy of the cycle in this game (though she has it for the series) via a 3-for-4 effort with three RBIs and three runs scored. Letourneau was 3-for-3 with a double, a walk, two RBIs and a run while Rabin also had three hits and two runs. DiPrima and Filler both finished 2-for-4 with DiPrima scoring twice while Nettling had two RBIs despite an 0-for-3 day.
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