Northwestern University Athletics
Friday, May 20
Athens, Ga.
Noon CT/1 p.m. ET
Northwestern
27-26
2
vs
1
Oklahoma State
29-25
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
R
H
E
Northwestern
0
1
0
0
0
0
1
2
8
1
Oklahoma State
1
0
0
0
0
0
0
1
4
0
Wildcats Open NCAA Tourney With 2-1 Win Over Cowgirls
5/20/2016 2:55:00 PM | Softball
ATHENS, Ga. – In a classic NCAA Softball postseason game played Friday to open the Athens Regional, Northwestern plated a two-out run in the top of the seventh inning to defeat Oklahoma State, 2-1, and advance to Saturday's winner's bracket game.
Northwestern (27-26) now advances to face the winner of Friday's second opening-round game between No. 16 overall seed Georgia and America East champion Maine. First pitch is scheduled for noon CT/1 p.m. ET Saturday, May 21. Oklahoma State (29-25) will play the losing team of the Bulldogs/Black Bear matchup.
The victory was the 30th NCAA postseason victory for head coach Kate Drohan and associate head coach Caryl Drohan.
The forecast for Friday was not good, with rain and storms predicted to arrive shortly after first pitch. Instead, the precipitation broke up around Athens, leaving in its wake a heavy humidity that killed balls hit with a dull thwack of the bat all game long.
Oklahoma State took advantage of a Northwestern miscue to open the scoring in the bottom of the first inning. The first two batters reached on a walk and a single against Wildcats starter Kristen Wood before moving to second and third on a groundout. Wood fanned the next batter, but with both Cowgirls dancing off their bases NU tried a snap throw down to third that went wide. A run came home on the error for a 1-0 Oklahoma State lead going into the second.
Amy Letourneau led Northwestern's response off in the top of the second with a single into right. Sammy Nettling sacrificed her to second, then a Brooke Marquez groundout pushed Letourneau to third. With the infield chillin' out maxin' relaxin' all cool with two outs, senior Fran Strub dropped a bunt down in front of everyone, beating it out for a game-tying RBI single. Junior Alcy Bush kept the frame rolling with a line-drive single off the third baseman, but it would end there.
Wood had a shutdown inning in the bottom of the second after the run, fanning the first two batters looking and recording the third out on a tremendous Morgan Nelson diving catch in foul territory.
Balls died in the thick, heavy air with scoreless inning after scoreless inning. Nettling threw out a leadoff Cowgirl walk in the third and neither team was able to muster much until the bottom of the fifth. Letourneau came on in relief in that inning, and the first Cowgirl tripled down the right field line. NU then issued a walk to the Big XII Player of the Year, Vanessa Shippy, to put runners at the corners with no outs. After a groundout to third pushed Shippy to second, Letourneau fanned the next batter. The Big Ten's All-Defensive team pitcher showed what earned her the award for the third out, racing forward out of the circle to make a shoestring catch on a little pop up to end the inning.
Northwestern returned the rally in the top of the sixth. With one out, Nelson ripped a booming double into the left-center gap. Andrea Filler followed with a single into center, putting just enough mustard on it to get the ball to spill out of the second baseman's glove on a lunging jump attempt. Nelson pushed to third on the play while Filler took second on the throw to the bag ahead of her. In much the same manner, Oklahoma State recovered, first erasing Nelson at the plate before another ground ball ended the inning with the score still tied.
The Cowgirls put two more runners on base in the bottom of the sixth, and again Letourneau successfully walked the tightrope, fanning the final batter of the inning to send things tied to the seventh.
In the top of the seventh, Strub reached on her second infield single of the game with one out. Later, with two outs, Krista Williams drew a four-pitch walk to push Strub up a bag before a wild pitch moved both #B1GCats up a bag. Those 60 feet proved to be Monster when Sabrina Rabin beat her second single of the game high off the infield, two feet in front of home plate. Strub scooted around the ensuing fielding carnage to score the go-ahead run.
Letourneau limited Oklahoma State to just a two-out base runner in the bottom of the seventh, but shut the door immediately on any comeback thoughts with a swingin' strikeout.
Letourneau (15-10) got the win in relief, allowing just a single hit and fanning four in three innings. Wood went the first four frames, giving up an unearned run on three hits and three walks with four strikeouts.
Both Strub and Rabin had two hits in the game for Northwestern. Rabin extended her current hitting streak to 12 games.
••••••
Be the first to know what's going on with the 'Cats -- Follow @NU_Sports on Twitter, become a fan of Northwestern Athletics on Facebook, check us out on Instagram, visit our Social Media page and download our mobile app from the Apple Store and Google Play! To get involved with the #B1GCats, become a season-ticket holder or join the Wildcat Fund!
Northwestern (27-26) now advances to face the winner of Friday's second opening-round game between No. 16 overall seed Georgia and America East champion Maine. First pitch is scheduled for noon CT/1 p.m. ET Saturday, May 21. Oklahoma State (29-25) will play the losing team of the Bulldogs/Black Bear matchup.
The victory was the 30th NCAA postseason victory for head coach Kate Drohan and associate head coach Caryl Drohan.
The forecast for Friday was not good, with rain and storms predicted to arrive shortly after first pitch. Instead, the precipitation broke up around Athens, leaving in its wake a heavy humidity that killed balls hit with a dull thwack of the bat all game long.
Oklahoma State took advantage of a Northwestern miscue to open the scoring in the bottom of the first inning. The first two batters reached on a walk and a single against Wildcats starter Kristen Wood before moving to second and third on a groundout. Wood fanned the next batter, but with both Cowgirls dancing off their bases NU tried a snap throw down to third that went wide. A run came home on the error for a 1-0 Oklahoma State lead going into the second.
Amy Letourneau led Northwestern's response off in the top of the second with a single into right. Sammy Nettling sacrificed her to second, then a Brooke Marquez groundout pushed Letourneau to third. With the infield chillin' out maxin' relaxin' all cool with two outs, senior Fran Strub dropped a bunt down in front of everyone, beating it out for a game-tying RBI single. Junior Alcy Bush kept the frame rolling with a line-drive single off the third baseman, but it would end there.
Wood had a shutdown inning in the bottom of the second after the run, fanning the first two batters looking and recording the third out on a tremendous Morgan Nelson diving catch in foul territory.
Balls died in the thick, heavy air with scoreless inning after scoreless inning. Nettling threw out a leadoff Cowgirl walk in the third and neither team was able to muster much until the bottom of the fifth. Letourneau came on in relief in that inning, and the first Cowgirl tripled down the right field line. NU then issued a walk to the Big XII Player of the Year, Vanessa Shippy, to put runners at the corners with no outs. After a groundout to third pushed Shippy to second, Letourneau fanned the next batter. The Big Ten's All-Defensive team pitcher showed what earned her the award for the third out, racing forward out of the circle to make a shoestring catch on a little pop up to end the inning.
Northwestern returned the rally in the top of the sixth. With one out, Nelson ripped a booming double into the left-center gap. Andrea Filler followed with a single into center, putting just enough mustard on it to get the ball to spill out of the second baseman's glove on a lunging jump attempt. Nelson pushed to third on the play while Filler took second on the throw to the bag ahead of her. In much the same manner, Oklahoma State recovered, first erasing Nelson at the plate before another ground ball ended the inning with the score still tied.
The Cowgirls put two more runners on base in the bottom of the sixth, and again Letourneau successfully walked the tightrope, fanning the final batter of the inning to send things tied to the seventh.
In the top of the seventh, Strub reached on her second infield single of the game with one out. Later, with two outs, Krista Williams drew a four-pitch walk to push Strub up a bag before a wild pitch moved both #B1GCats up a bag. Those 60 feet proved to be Monster when Sabrina Rabin beat her second single of the game high off the infield, two feet in front of home plate. Strub scooted around the ensuing fielding carnage to score the go-ahead run.
SAFE! @NUSBcats takes the lead over Oklahoma State with a huge play at the plate in the 7th! #D1softball pic.twitter.com/9KgMJ7NljB
— NCAA Softball (@NCAAsoftball) May 20, 2016
Letourneau limited Oklahoma State to just a two-out base runner in the bottom of the seventh, but shut the door immediately on any comeback thoughts with a swingin' strikeout.
The final out from Athens! @NUSBcats tops Oklahoma State! #D1softballhttps://t.co/mNWr6iUEoz
— NCAA Softball (@NCAAsoftball) May 20, 2016
Letourneau (15-10) got the win in relief, allowing just a single hit and fanning four in three innings. Wood went the first four frames, giving up an unearned run on three hits and three walks with four strikeouts.
Both Strub and Rabin had two hits in the game for Northwestern. Rabin extended her current hitting streak to 12 games.
••••••
Be the first to know what's going on with the 'Cats -- Follow @NU_Sports on Twitter, become a fan of Northwestern Athletics on Facebook, check us out on Instagram, visit our Social Media page and download our mobile app from the Apple Store and Google Play! To get involved with the #B1GCats, become a season-ticket holder or join the Wildcat Fund!
Team Stats
Pitching:
W: Letourneau, Amy (15-10)
L: Freeze, Kacy (16-10)
Batting:
2B: Nelson, Morgan 1
RBI: Rabin, Sabrina 1 ; Strub, Fran 1
SH: Nettling, Sammy 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Letourneau, Amy 1 ; Strub, Fran 1
Batting:
3B: Holcomb, Maddie 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Shippy, Vanessa 1
CS: Shippy, Vanessa 1
HBP: Shippy, Vanessa 1 ; Montgomery, Madi Sue 1 ; Taylor, Darcy 1 ; Patton, Michaela 1
Game Leaders
AB
4
R
0
H
2
RBI
1
AB
3
R
1
H
2
RBI
1
AB
4
R
0
H
1
RBI
0
AB
3
R
0
H
1
RBI
0
Players Mentioned
IF
/ Softball
P/1B
/ Softball
IF
/ SoftballIF/C
/ Softball
C
/ SoftballOF
/ SoftballOF
/ Softball
OF
/ Softball
P
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