Saturday, February 18
Tallahassee, Fla.
5:30 p.m. CT/6:30 p.m. ET
Northwestern
1-7
1
vs
2
Pittsburgh
8-0
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
R
H
E
Northwestern
1
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
1
1
1
Pittsburgh
0
0
0
0
0
0
1
1
2
7
2
No. 24 Pitt Walks Off On Northwestern in Extras, 2-1 (8)
2/18/2017 8:06:00 PM | Softball
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. -- For the second-straight weekend, Northwestern took a ranked opponent into extra innings only to see their foe win in the eighth. This time, No. 24 Pittsburgh scored once in the seventh and again in the eighth to erase an early Wildcats score in a 2-1 (8) NU loss.
Pittsburgh continues its perfect season with the win, moving to 8-0. Northwestern falls to 1-7 on the year with its loss; five of those losses have come against ranked teams including two in extra innings. Last week at the Hillendbrand Invitational, No. 21 Baylor scored twice in the eighth to take a 7-6 (8) decision over NU.
Northwestern concludes its B1G/ACC Challenge schedule early tomorrow at 8:30 a.m. CT/9:30 a.m. ET with a rematch against Pitt.
NU frustrated Pitt's offense all game long, stranding 11 Panthers on base entering the bottom of the seventh inning. Even after Pitt tied the game and had the winning run on third with one out, Northwestern kept her there. In the end, NU hung 13 left on base on Pittsburgh, but it was one too few.
Northwestern pounced on Pitt at the start. Sabrina Rabin worked a full-count leadoff walk in the top of the first, then stole second. Still there with two outs, Rabin raced around to score when Kenzie Ellis delivered an RBI single to center.
Pittsburgh tried to answer right away, turning a leadoff error into a runner a third with one out and runners at second and third with two outs. Wildcats starter Nicole Bond stranded them both with a swingin' strikeout to preserve NU's early edge.
The Panthers again rallied hard in the second frame, loading the bases with two outs. Bond escaped unscathed by getting a fly ball to Krista Williams in center. A leadoff Pittsburgh double in the third also did no damage when Bond kept the lead runner at second. With two on and two out in that inning, Anna Petersen snared a line drive in left to send the game to the fourth.
With Northwestern's offense not able to get much going after the first, Ellis took the circle for the Wildcats to begin the bottom of the fourth. She allowed only a two-out infield single, and on the contest moved to the fifth frame.
The Wildcats got a pair of two-out runners in the top of the fifth thanks to two plays ruled to be errors. Again, NU was unable to cash those runners in. Then, in the bottom half, Pittsburgh yet again loaded the bases with two outs. The next batter lined a ball into left field that Abbey Boyd -- who entered the game in the fourth as a defensive replacement -- was able to catch to leave 'em loaded.
Ellis had the Wildcats first 1-2-3 frame of the game in the circle in the bottom of the sixth, setting the stage for the meat of Pitt's order to come up in the bottom of the seventh.
The leadoff Panther in that frame singled into left field before Ellis got a pop-up to short. A walk put two Panthers aboard, then Pitt got the hit it had been missing all game: a double down the right field line knotted the score and put the winning run at third base. Ellis summoned all of her grit and got a strikeout looking before a full-count groundout to Morgan Nelson at second ended the inning and sent the game into extras.
Alcy Bush walked to begin the eighth inning for NU, but again Pittsburgh hurler Kayla Harris was just too tough for NU to advance any farther. Pitt got a leadoff single and hit batter to start its eighth. Ellis got another strikeout looking before a fielder's choice grounder erased the trail runner and again put the winning run at third. This time, there would be no escape. The batter sent a long single into the outfield to end the game in walk-off fashion, 2-1.
Bond went 3.0 innings in her start, allowing no runs on a hit with five walks and a strikeout. Ellis (0-4) tossed 4.2 innings in relief and was saddled with the loss, giving up two runs on six hits and three walks with four strikeouts.
Pittsburgh continues its perfect season with the win, moving to 8-0. Northwestern falls to 1-7 on the year with its loss; five of those losses have come against ranked teams including two in extra innings. Last week at the Hillendbrand Invitational, No. 21 Baylor scored twice in the eighth to take a 7-6 (8) decision over NU.
Northwestern concludes its B1G/ACC Challenge schedule early tomorrow at 8:30 a.m. CT/9:30 a.m. ET with a rematch against Pitt.
NU frustrated Pitt's offense all game long, stranding 11 Panthers on base entering the bottom of the seventh inning. Even after Pitt tied the game and had the winning run on third with one out, Northwestern kept her there. In the end, NU hung 13 left on base on Pittsburgh, but it was one too few.
Northwestern pounced on Pitt at the start. Sabrina Rabin worked a full-count leadoff walk in the top of the first, then stole second. Still there with two outs, Rabin raced around to score when Kenzie Ellis delivered an RBI single to center.
Pittsburgh tried to answer right away, turning a leadoff error into a runner a third with one out and runners at second and third with two outs. Wildcats starter Nicole Bond stranded them both with a swingin' strikeout to preserve NU's early edge.
The Panthers again rallied hard in the second frame, loading the bases with two outs. Bond escaped unscathed by getting a fly ball to Krista Williams in center. A leadoff Pittsburgh double in the third also did no damage when Bond kept the lead runner at second. With two on and two out in that inning, Anna Petersen snared a line drive in left to send the game to the fourth.
With Northwestern's offense not able to get much going after the first, Ellis took the circle for the Wildcats to begin the bottom of the fourth. She allowed only a two-out infield single, and on the contest moved to the fifth frame.
The Wildcats got a pair of two-out runners in the top of the fifth thanks to two plays ruled to be errors. Again, NU was unable to cash those runners in. Then, in the bottom half, Pittsburgh yet again loaded the bases with two outs. The next batter lined a ball into left field that Abbey Boyd -- who entered the game in the fourth as a defensive replacement -- was able to catch to leave 'em loaded.
Ellis had the Wildcats first 1-2-3 frame of the game in the circle in the bottom of the sixth, setting the stage for the meat of Pitt's order to come up in the bottom of the seventh.
The leadoff Panther in that frame singled into left field before Ellis got a pop-up to short. A walk put two Panthers aboard, then Pitt got the hit it had been missing all game: a double down the right field line knotted the score and put the winning run at third base. Ellis summoned all of her grit and got a strikeout looking before a full-count groundout to Morgan Nelson at second ended the inning and sent the game into extras.
Alcy Bush walked to begin the eighth inning for NU, but again Pittsburgh hurler Kayla Harris was just too tough for NU to advance any farther. Pitt got a leadoff single and hit batter to start its eighth. Ellis got another strikeout looking before a fielder's choice grounder erased the trail runner and again put the winning run at third. This time, there would be no escape. The batter sent a long single into the outfield to end the game in walk-off fashion, 2-1.
Bond went 3.0 innings in her start, allowing no runs on a hit with five walks and a strikeout. Ellis (0-4) tossed 4.2 innings in relief and was saddled with the loss, giving up two runs on six hits and three walks with four strikeouts.
••••••
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Team Stats
Pitching:
W: Kayla Harris (4-0)
L: Ellis, Kenzie (0-4)
Batting:
RBI: Ellis, Kenzie 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Rabin, Sabrina 1
SB: Rabin, Sabrina 1
CS: Rabin, Sabrina 1
Batting:
2B: McKayla Taylor 1 ; Kaitlin Manuel 1
RBI: Giorgiana Zeremenko 1 ; Kaitlin Manuel 1
Base Running:
RUNS: McKayla Taylor 1 ; Valerie Ortega 1
SB: Alexis Solak 1 ; Connor McGaffic 1
HBP: Hannah Edwards 1
Game Leaders
Hitting
dp/p
AB
3
R
0
H
1
RBI
1
AB
3
R
1
H
0
RBI
0
AB
4
R
0
H
0
RBI
0
AB
3
R
0
H
0
RBI
0
Players Mentioned
P
/ Softball
OF
/ Softball
P
/ SoftballIF/C
/ Softball
OF
/ SoftballOF
/ Softball
OF
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