Northwestern University Athletics
Friday, May 6
West Lafayette, IN
6 p.m. CT/7 p.m. ET
Northwestern
23-25, 13-8
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Purdue
27-25, 8-13
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Northwestern
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Purdue
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Photo by: Stephen J. Carrera
#B1GCats Stop Boilermakers in 2-0 Pitchers' Duel
5/6/2016 8:53:00 PM | Softball
WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. – Northwestern got a combined shutout from seniors Kristen Wood and Amy Letourneau in the circle, and broke through for two runs with a two-out, seventh-inning rally to defeat Purdue Friday, 2-0, at Boilermaker Softball Stadium.
Northwestern's record on the season now stands at 23-25, 13-8 in the B1G. Purdue is 27-25 overall, 8-13 in the conference. The two teams renew acquaintances at noon CT tomorrow, Saturday, May 7.
In a rematch of last year's Big Ten Tournament quarterfinal that NU won 3-0, the senior Wood for Northwestern and senior Lilly Fecho of Purdue battled it out in the circle on Friday before Letourneau took over the pitcher's duel in the fourth. While neither team allowed any runs until the seventh, the only 1-2-3 frame in the entire game came in NU's offensive half of the second.
Wood went 3.0 innings in the start, allowing three hits and a walk with one strikeout. Letourneau (12-10) got the win, through the final four innings and allowing just a single hit with two walks and five Ks.
In the top of the first, the Wildcats had the first chance when they got a pair of runners aboard when Morgan Nelson reached on a one-out error before Letourneau was struck by a two-out pitch. Purdue answered with a shot at scoring in the bottom of the second when, with two outs and a runner at second, the batter hit a soaring drive into deep left-center. Running a mile to catch up to it, left fielder Krista Williams reached out and snagged the ball before crashing into the wall to end the inning.
Sabrina Rabin recorded NU's first hit of the game in the top of the third before stealing her 36th base of the year with one out. Fecho kept her there. In the bottom of the third, Wood allowed a couple of base runners -- including a two-out walk resulting from a 17-pitch (!!) at-bat -- before retiring the side.
Letourneau took over in the circle for the Wildcats in the bottom of the fourth, surrendering just a two-out single before ending the inning on the third foul out to an NU middle infielder in the game.
Northwestern got the game's first runner to third base in the top of the fifth. With one out, Williams singled perfectly on the infield. Rabin followed with a walk to move Williams to second before Nelson hit into a fielder's choice play that erased Rabin but pushed Williams to third. Nelson swiped second, but the Purdue second baseman fielded the next ball in play ably to keep NU off the scoreboard.
In the bottom of the sixth, the leadoff Boiler battled Letourneau for a 13-pitch (!!) walk. Letourneau retired the next two batters to the plate before a hit by pitch gave Purdue a runner at second for the fourth inning in the game. Letourneau, however, ended the inning on a nasty backward K to keep things scoreless to the seventh.
In that seventh, the #B1GCats finally struck. With two outs, Rabin served her second single of the game into center, and nearly scored from first when Nelson ran her current hitting streak to 11 games with a deep single into right center. Instead, Rabin held at third while Nelson took second on the throw in to the plate. Andrea Filler then stepped up and powered a single into center that scored both, giving NU a 2-0 edge.
Letourneau quickly recorded the first two outs in the bottom of the seventh before issuing a two-out walk, but she fanned the next batter to end the game.
Rabin had two hits for NU at the plate while Filler had the big two-run knock in the seventh.
••••••
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's record on the season now stands at 23-25, 13-8 in the B1G. Purdue is 27-25 overall, 8-13 in the conference. The two teams renew acquaintances at noon CT tomorrow, Saturday, May 7.
In a rematch of last year's Big Ten Tournament quarterfinal that NU won 3-0, the senior Wood for Northwestern and senior Lilly Fecho of Purdue battled it out in the circle on Friday before Letourneau took over the pitcher's duel in the fourth. While neither team allowed any runs until the seventh, the only 1-2-3 frame in the entire game came in NU's offensive half of the second.
Wood went 3.0 innings in the start, allowing three hits and a walk with one strikeout. Letourneau (12-10) got the win, through the final four innings and allowing just a single hit with two walks and five Ks.
The post game #fireworks are ?? after a win! #B1GCats pic.twitter.com/8LPaQvK4tq
— NorthwesternSoftball (@NUSBcats) May 7, 2016
In the top of the first, the Wildcats had the first chance when they got a pair of runners aboard when Morgan Nelson reached on a one-out error before Letourneau was struck by a two-out pitch. Purdue answered with a shot at scoring in the bottom of the second when, with two outs and a runner at second, the batter hit a soaring drive into deep left-center. Running a mile to catch up to it, left fielder Krista Williams reached out and snagged the ball before crashing into the wall to end the inning.
Sabrina Rabin recorded NU's first hit of the game in the top of the third before stealing her 36th base of the year with one out. Fecho kept her there. In the bottom of the third, Wood allowed a couple of base runners -- including a two-out walk resulting from a 17-pitch (!!) at-bat -- before retiring the side.
Letourneau took over in the circle for the Wildcats in the bottom of the fourth, surrendering just a two-out single before ending the inning on the third foul out to an NU middle infielder in the game.
Northwestern got the game's first runner to third base in the top of the fifth. With one out, Williams singled perfectly on the infield. Rabin followed with a walk to move Williams to second before Nelson hit into a fielder's choice play that erased Rabin but pushed Williams to third. Nelson swiped second, but the Purdue second baseman fielded the next ball in play ably to keep NU off the scoreboard.
In the bottom of the sixth, the leadoff Boiler battled Letourneau for a 13-pitch (!!) walk. Letourneau retired the next two batters to the plate before a hit by pitch gave Purdue a runner at second for the fourth inning in the game. Letourneau, however, ended the inning on a nasty backward K to keep things scoreless to the seventh.
In that seventh, the #B1GCats finally struck. With two outs, Rabin served her second single of the game into center, and nearly scored from first when Nelson ran her current hitting streak to 11 games with a deep single into right center. Instead, Rabin held at third while Nelson took second on the throw in to the plate. Andrea Filler then stepped up and powered a single into center that scored both, giving NU a 2-0 edge.
Letourneau quickly recorded the first two outs in the bottom of the seventh before issuing a two-out walk, but she fanned the next batter to end the game.
Rabin had two hits for NU at the plate while Filler had the big two-run knock in the seventh.
••••••
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 (12-10)
L: Fecho, Lilly (18-12)
Batting:
RBI: Filler, Andrea 2
Base Running:
RUNS: Rabin, Sabrina 1 ; Nelson, Morgan 1
SB: Rabin, Sabrina 1 ; Nelson, Morgan 1
HBP: Letourneau, Amy 1 ; Marquez, Brooke 1
Batting:
2B: Hoppman, Kristen 1 ; Stewart, Lauren 1
SH: Hoppman, Kristen 1
Base Running:
SB: Stewart, Lauren 1
HBP: Huffman, Lexi 1 ; Hughes, Maya 1
Game Leaders
AB
3
R
1
H
2
RBI
0
AB
4
R
1
H
1
RBI
0
AB
4
R
0
H
1
RBI
2
AB
2
R
0
H
1
RBI
0
Players Mentioned
IF
/ Softball
P/1B
/ SoftballIF/C
/ SoftballOF
/ Softball
OF
/ Softball
P
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