Friday, April 1
Evanston, Ill.
3 p.m. CT
Northwestern
10-19, 1-3
0
vs
16
Minnesota
23-9, 4-0
1
2
3
4
5
R
H
E
Minnesota
4
7
0
5
0
16
10
1
Northwestern
0
0
0
0
0
0
2
0
Northwestern Drops Home Opener To No. 21 Minnesota
4/1/2016 5:20:00 PM | Softball
EVANSTON, Ill. – Northwestern opened its 2016 Sharon J. Drysdale Field schedule Friday against No. 21 Minnesota, but it was the Gophers who began the three-game series with a win, 16-0 (5).
Northwestern now is 10-19 overall, 1-3 in the Big Ten after Friday. Minnesota improves to 23-9 on the season, 4-0 in the conference.
With dangerously high winds and generally poor weather forecasted for Saturday, the Wildcats and Gophers will conclude this series in an 11 a.m. CT doubleheader Sunday, April 3. Ticket are available at the gate, or better yet grab season passes here!
The Gophers jumped on top in the game against Northwestern starter Kenzie Ellis with a pair of two-out, two-run home runs. Ellis fanned the first batter of the game and got the No. 3 batter to ground into a fielder's choice, but a homer-walk-homer combination staked Minnesota to a 4-0 edge.
Northwestern's first two batters to the plate in the bottom of the first singled against Minnesota's ace Sara Groenewegen, with both Sabrina Rabin and Krista Williams smashing hard-hit balls on the ground. Groenewegen recovered to retire the next three Wildcats in order, giving the Gophers the momentum to plate seven more runs in the top of the second and extend their lead to 11-0. Minnesota capped the rally with a two-out grand slam.
Ellis tossed a scoreless top of the third and Rabin reached for the second time in the contest in the bottom half, eventually getting to third base with two outs on a stolen base and an error. Once again, Groenewegen left her there.
Junior Nicole Bond entered the circle in relief for Northwestern in the top of the fourth, but Minnesota got right back to its scoring ways. With two outs in the frame but five more runs across, freshman Kaley Winegarner came in to pitch and recorded the final out.
In the bottom half, Sammy Nettling led off with a walk and gave way to pinch runner Marissa Panko, who moved to second when Morgan Nelson was hit by a pitch. Brooke Marquez sacrificed both up a base before pinch hitter Amy Letourneau worked a walk of her own to load the bases with two down. Senior Fran Strub followed by putting a charge into a ball to left field, but the wind knocked it down enough to be caught just in front of the warning track to end the inning.
Winegarner tossed a scoreless top of the fifth before the game ended early in the bottom portion.
Ellis (3-4) took the loss, giving up 11 runs on eight hits and five walks with three strikeouts in 3.0 innings. Bond tossed two-thirds of a frame, allowing five runs on two hits and five walks. Winegarner threw 1.1 perfect innings with two strikeouts.
Northwestern now is 10-19 overall, 1-3 in the Big Ten after Friday. Minnesota improves to 23-9 on the season, 4-0 in the conference.
With dangerously high winds and generally poor weather forecasted for Saturday, the Wildcats and Gophers will conclude this series in an 11 a.m. CT doubleheader Sunday, April 3. Ticket are available at the gate, or better yet grab season passes here!
The Gophers jumped on top in the game against Northwestern starter Kenzie Ellis with a pair of two-out, two-run home runs. Ellis fanned the first batter of the game and got the No. 3 batter to ground into a fielder's choice, but a homer-walk-homer combination staked Minnesota to a 4-0 edge.
Northwestern's first two batters to the plate in the bottom of the first singled against Minnesota's ace Sara Groenewegen, with both Sabrina Rabin and Krista Williams smashing hard-hit balls on the ground. Groenewegen recovered to retire the next three Wildcats in order, giving the Gophers the momentum to plate seven more runs in the top of the second and extend their lead to 11-0. Minnesota capped the rally with a two-out grand slam.
Ellis tossed a scoreless top of the third and Rabin reached for the second time in the contest in the bottom half, eventually getting to third base with two outs on a stolen base and an error. Once again, Groenewegen left her there.
Junior Nicole Bond entered the circle in relief for Northwestern in the top of the fourth, but Minnesota got right back to its scoring ways. With two outs in the frame but five more runs across, freshman Kaley Winegarner came in to pitch and recorded the final out.
In the bottom half, Sammy Nettling led off with a walk and gave way to pinch runner Marissa Panko, who moved to second when Morgan Nelson was hit by a pitch. Brooke Marquez sacrificed both up a base before pinch hitter Amy Letourneau worked a walk of her own to load the bases with two down. Senior Fran Strub followed by putting a charge into a ball to left field, but the wind knocked it down enough to be caught just in front of the warning track to end the inning.
Winegarner tossed a scoreless top of the fifth before the game ended early in the bottom portion.
Ellis (3-4) took the loss, giving up 11 runs on eight hits and five walks with three strikeouts in 3.0 innings. Bond tossed two-thirds of a frame, allowing five runs on two hits and five walks. Winegarner threw 1.1 perfect innings with two strikeouts.
••••••
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Team Stats
Pitching:
W: Sara Groenewegen (17-4)
L: Ellis, Kenzie (3-4)
Batting:
2B: Taylor LeMay 1
HR: Taylor LeMay 1 ; Sara Groenewegen 1 ; Kayla Wenner 1 ; Sydney Dwyer 1
RBI: Sam Macken 1 ; Danielle Parlich 1 ; Taylor LeMay 4 ; Sara Groenewegen 4 ; Kayla Wenner 2 ; Sydney Dwyer 4
SF: Danielle Parlich 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Sam Macken 1 ; Danielle Parlich 1 ; Taylor LeMay 3 ; Sara Groenewegen 2 ; Maddie Houlihan 2 ; Kayla Wenner 3 ; Sydney Dwyer 1 ; Jesse Isham 1 ; Sydney Fabian 2
SB: Maddie Houlihan 1
CS: Paige Palkovich 1
HBP: Sydney Dwyer 1 ; Sydney Fabian 1
Batting:
SH: Marquez, Brooke 1
Base Running:
SB: Rabin, Sabrina 1
HBP: Nelson, Morgan 1
Game Leaders
Hitting
AB
3
R
0
H
1
RBI
0
AB
3
R
0
H
1
RBI
0
AB
3
R
0
H
0
RBI
0
AB
1
R
0
H
0
RBI
0
Players Mentioned
P
/ Softball
P
/ Softball
P/1B
/ Softball
IF
/ Softball
IF/C
/ SoftballC
/ Softball
IF/OF
/ SoftballOF
/ Softball
OF
/ SoftballOF
/ Softball
P
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