Saturday, March 19
Clearwater, Fla.
8:30 a.m. CT/9:30 a.m. ET
Northwestern
9-13
2
vs
0
Lehigh University
14-6
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
R
H
E
Northwestern
0
0
1
0
0
0
1
2
4
0
Lehigh
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
6
0
Photo by: Stephen J. Carrera
#B1GCats Beat Mountain Hawks, Rain Delay With 2-0 Shutout
3/19/2016 3:29:00 PM | Softball
CLEARWATER, Fla. – In a game that was interrupted nearly five hours by a passing storm Saturday at the USF Clearwater Spring Break Tournament, Northwestern picked up a well-earned 2-0 shutout of Lehigh in the first of two Wildcats contests on the day.
Northwestern now is 9-13 overall on the season. Lehigh is 14-6. The Wildcats are in action again immediately against Kent State at the USF Clearwater Spring Break Tournament.
The Wildcats nearly took an early lead with a patient rally in the first, though it started quickly when Sabrina Rabin singled on the very first pitch of the game. Later, with two outs and Rabin on second following a steal, Amy Letourneau and Sammy Nettling both walked to load the bases. Lehigh's ace Emily Sorem went to a 3-0 count on the next Wildcats batter, but recovered to coax a pop up and end the threat.
In the top of the third, Rabin again led off with a single and a stolen base. This time she moved to third on a productive Krista Williams groundout before Andrea Filler lifted a fly ball deep enough to center to score the speedy sophomore and give the Wildcats a 1-0 lead.
Both Sorem and Letourneau, NU's hurler, raced through the opposing lineups as bad weather approached until Lehigh put together a little two-out rally in the bottom of the fourth, getting runners to first and second. With a 2-0 count on the batter, lightning in the area ahead of an advancing storm forced a delay that lasted four hours and 58 minutes while the teams waited for the rain to abate and then another 90 minutes to make the field playable again.
When play did resume, the batter at the plate received two more balls to load the bases via a walk. Letourneau then got a grounder to third that Marissa Panko handled off the wet dirt before touching the bag for the inning-ending force.
Lehigh threatened again in the fifth, getting a runner to second with one out. Letourneau struck out the next Mountain Hawk to the plate before surrendering a single to center, but Rabin came up THROWING from the outfield, firing a perfect strike into the plate where Caylor Arnold applied the tag to end the frame.
The sixth was much less dramatic with Letourneau working a 1-2-3 inning, then the Wildcats added an insurance run. Anna Petersen earned a leadoff walk in the top of the seventh, then gave way to expert pinch runner Fran Strub. Later, with two outs, and Strub still at first, pinch hitter Alcy Bush smashed a triple all the way to the fence in right center to plate her senior teammate and make it a 2-0 game.
Lehigh notched a leadoff single in the bottom of the seventh before Letourneau returned with a backward K. A pop up to Bush at first followed by a diving catch in right field from Strub, who had remained in the game to play defense, ended the contest.
Letourneau (4-7) returned from her five-hour break to complete the shutout, scattering six hits and a walk with three strikeouts.
In addition to Filler and Bush with big RBIs, Rabin had two hits and two stolen bases for NU.
Northwestern now is 9-13 overall on the season. Lehigh is 14-6. The Wildcats are in action again immediately against Kent State at the USF Clearwater Spring Break Tournament.
The Wildcats nearly took an early lead with a patient rally in the first, though it started quickly when Sabrina Rabin singled on the very first pitch of the game. Later, with two outs and Rabin on second following a steal, Amy Letourneau and Sammy Nettling both walked to load the bases. Lehigh's ace Emily Sorem went to a 3-0 count on the next Wildcats batter, but recovered to coax a pop up and end the threat.
In the top of the third, Rabin again led off with a single and a stolen base. This time she moved to third on a productive Krista Williams groundout before Andrea Filler lifted a fly ball deep enough to center to score the speedy sophomore and give the Wildcats a 1-0 lead.
Both Sorem and Letourneau, NU's hurler, raced through the opposing lineups as bad weather approached until Lehigh put together a little two-out rally in the bottom of the fourth, getting runners to first and second. With a 2-0 count on the batter, lightning in the area ahead of an advancing storm forced a delay that lasted four hours and 58 minutes while the teams waited for the rain to abate and then another 90 minutes to make the field playable again.
When play did resume, the batter at the plate received two more balls to load the bases via a walk. Letourneau then got a grounder to third that Marissa Panko handled off the wet dirt before touching the bag for the inning-ending force.
Lehigh threatened again in the fifth, getting a runner to second with one out. Letourneau struck out the next Mountain Hawk to the plate before surrendering a single to center, but Rabin came up THROWING from the outfield, firing a perfect strike into the plate where Caylor Arnold applied the tag to end the frame.
The sixth was much less dramatic with Letourneau working a 1-2-3 inning, then the Wildcats added an insurance run. Anna Petersen earned a leadoff walk in the top of the seventh, then gave way to expert pinch runner Fran Strub. Later, with two outs, and Strub still at first, pinch hitter Alcy Bush smashed a triple all the way to the fence in right center to plate her senior teammate and make it a 2-0 game.
Lehigh notched a leadoff single in the bottom of the seventh before Letourneau returned with a backward K. A pop up to Bush at first followed by a diving catch in right field from Strub, who had remained in the game to play defense, ended the contest.
Letourneau (4-7) returned from her five-hour break to complete the shutout, scattering six hits and a walk with three strikeouts.
In addition to Filler and Bush with big RBIs, Rabin had two hits and two stolen bases for NU.
••••••
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Team Stats
Pitching:
W: Letourneau, Amy (4-7)
L: Sorem, Emily (7-3)
Batting:
3B: Bush, Alcy 1
RBI: Filler, Andrea 1 ; Bush, Alcy 1
SF: Filler, Andrea 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Rabin, Sabrina 1 ; Strub, Fran 1
SB: Rabin, Sabrina 2
Batting:
SH: Quidolit, Ashley 1
Base Running:
HBP: Velasquez, MacKenzie 1
Game Leaders
Hitting
AB
4
R
1
H
2
RBI
0
rf/lf
AB
3
R
0
H
1
RBI
0
AB
2
R
0
H
0
RBI
1
Players Mentioned
C
/ SoftballIF
/ Softball
P/1B
/ Softball
C
/ Softball
IF/OF
/ Softball
OF
/ SoftballOF
/ Softball
OF
/ SoftballOF
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