Friday, February 24
Cathedral City, Calif.
7:30 p.m. CT/5:30 p.m. PT
Northwestern
1-9
0
vs
2
Georgia
13-3
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
R
H
E
Georgia
0
0
0
0
1
1
0
2
7
1
Northwestern
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
2
1
Photo by: Stephen J. Carrera
Northwestern Unable to Break Through Against No. 11 Georgia, 2-0
2/24/2017 11:07:00 PM | Softball
CATHEDRAL CITY, Calif. -- Facing its seventh ranked opponent in its first 10 games of the season, Northwestern was able to get its offense untracked at its opening game of the Mary Nutter Collegiate Classic in a 2-0 loss to No. 11 Georgia.
Northwestern falls to 1-9 on the season with its loss while Georgia improves to 13-3. NU continues its Mary Nutter Collegiate Classic schedule tomorrow, Saturday, February 25, with games against No. 8 Washington and N.C. State beginning at noon CT/10 a.m. PT.
Though Georgia out-hit NU 7-2 in the game, Northwestern drew six walks and had base runners in nearly every inning. The big hit was never to come, however.
NU senior Nicole Bond and the defense behind her were strong to start the Wildcats' Nutter opener. Bond's stuff was so nasty early on, the only Bulldogs base runner in the first inning came on a third-strike wild pitch. A leadoff single started the second for Georgia, but Krista Williams rushed forward to glove a line drive in center and double up the runner at first to end that frame. The third inning was a 1-2-3 affair with a pair of strikeouts and one tremendous Marissa Panko play at short to retire a speedy slapper.
Northwestern's first threat of the game came in the bottom of the third thanks to a one-out Williams walk and a two-out Kenzie Ellis free pass. Georgia starter Mary Wilson Avant got a pop up down the right field line to keep the threat from burgeoning any further.
In the bottom of the fourth, Georgia inserted Brittany Gray into the circle in relief. Again, two Wildcats reached on walks before she shut down the rally.
The Bulldogs started the top of the fifth inning with a solo home run to find the scoreboard first in the game. Northwestern countered with its first hit of the game -- a two-out Ellis single -- in the bottom half, but nothing more.
Freshman Morgan Newport entered the circle for Northwestern in relief of Bond to start the top of the sixth. The first Bulldog to the plate doubled and was still there with two outs when a dink single into right brought her around to make Georgia's lead 2-0.
Newport retired the top of the Georgia lineup in order in the top of the seventh to keep NU within a pair. Brooke Marquez led off the bottom half with an infield single, quickly scampering to second when the throw to first scooted into right field. She then raced to third when Newport flew out to right, but ended the inning stuck there.
Bond (1-2) took the loss, allowing one run on five hits with no walks and three strikeouts in 5.0 innings. Newport surrendered one run on two hits and a walk in 2.0 frames.
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Team Stats
Pitching:
W: Gray, Brittany (8-1)
L: Bond, Nicole (1-2)
Batting:
2B: McGuire, Maeve 1
HR: Sumerlin, Lacey 1
RBI: Sumerlin, Lacey 2
Base Running:
RUNS: McGuire, Maeve 1 ; Sumerlin, Lacey 1
Base Running:
SB: Williams, Krista 1
Game Leaders
Hitting
AB
2
R
0
H
1
RBI
0
AB
2
R
0
H
1
RBI
0
AB
2
R
0
H
0
RBI
0
AB
3
R
0
H
0
RBI
0
Players Mentioned
P
/ SoftballP
/ SoftballIF
/ Softball
P/U
/ Softball
IF/OF
/ SoftballOF
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