Saturday, February 25
Cathedral City, Calif.
4:30 p.m. CT/2:30 p.m. PT
Northwestern
2-10
11
vs
2
N.C. State
3-11
1
2
3
4
5
R
H
E
Northwestern
6
3
0
2
0
11
16
0
N.C. State
0
0
1
0
1
2
7
3
NU Bounces Back With Big Run-Rule Win Over N.C. State, 11-2 (5)
2/25/2017 5:57:00 PM | Softball
CATHEDRAL CITY, Calif. -- Coming off one of its most brutally tough stretches of schedule in recent memory, the battle-tested #B1GCats broke out in a big way Saturday afternoon at the Mary Nutter Classic in an 11-2 (5) run-rule victory over N.C. State. Every starter in the NU order had at least one base hit during a 16-hit Wildcats attack.
Northwestern snaps its current skid to move to 2-10 on the season while N.C. State now is 3-11 on the year with its loss.
Northwestern concludes its Mary Nutter Collegiate Classic schedule at 11 a.m. CT/9 a.m. PT tomorrow, February 26 against Houston.
To start this game, the Wildcats bats were…in a word…due. Northwestern sent 10 batters to the plate, collecting five hits and forcing three errors while plating six total runs in the top of the first.
Sabrina Rabin beat out an infield single to kick things off, stealing second and moving to third when the catcher's throw sailed into center. Krista Williams singled Rabin home before moving around to third when both Kenzie Ellis and Morgan Nelson singled, loading the bases still with no outs. Sammy Nettling kept the scoring going when she reached on an error, making it a 2-0 game with the bases still juiced. One out later, Anna Petersen served up the whole buffet, crushing a grand salami of a tater to left field to give Northwestern a 6-0 first inning lead.
The blast was Petersen's first of the year and the third of her career. It was her first grand slam.
N.C. State lifted its starter Brittany Nimmo from the circle in favor of Peyton Silverman, who kept NU from scoring any further.
Northwestern added three more runs with a two-out rally in the second. Nelson started it with a single before Nettling, Brooke Marquez and Petersen clobbered back-to-back-to-back doubles to make NU's lead 9-0 heading into the bottom of the inning, where the Wolfpack began a rally.
N.C. State loaded the bases with no outs against NU starter Nicole Bond, and Morgan Newport entered in relief. She caught the first batter she faced looking at strike three beforereceived a wonderful Rabin catch of a liner in right field. Newport then devastated the next batter to the plate to leave 'em loaded and keep NU's lead at nine runs.
Northwestern got that run back plus one in the top of the fourth. Marquez started a one-out rally with a single, then moved to third when Petersen blasted her second double and third extra-base hit of the game. An Alcy Bush base knock brought Marquez across before Petersen scored on a Rabin single, bringing the score to 11-1.
The score remained the same in the bottom of the fifth, and Newport held the final N.C. State rally to a single run to end the game early, 11-2 (5).
Petersen had a career day at the plate to lead Northwestern, going 3-for-3 with the grand slam and two doubles to drive in a career-best five while scoring twice. Rabin, Williams, Nelson, Nettling and Marquez all had two hits apiece, as well. Nettling drove in two and scored twice; Nelson and Marquez also crossed the plate twice.
Newport (1-2) earned her first-collegiate victory in relief, throwing 4.0 innings and allowing two runs on four hits with a walk and three strikeouts. Bond went one-plus innings in the start, giving up no runs on three hits and a walk.
••••••
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Team Stats
Pitching:
W: Newport, Morgan (1-2)
L: Brittany Nimmo (1-5)
Batting:
2B: Nettling, Sammy 2 ; Marquez, Brooke 1 ; Petersen, Anna 2
HR: Petersen, Anna 1
RBI: Rabin, Sabrina 1 ; Williams, Krista 1 ; Nettling, Sammy 2 ; Marquez, Brooke 1 ; Petersen, Anna 5 ; Bush, Alcy 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Rabin, Sabrina 1 ; Williams, Krista 1 ; Ellis, Kenzie 1 ; Nelson, Morgan 2 ; Nettling, Sammy 2 ; Marquez, Brooke 2 ; Petersen, Anna 2
SB: Rabin, Sabrina 1
CS: Williams, Krista 1
Batting:
2B: Cheyenne Balzer 1 ; Jessica Moore 1
HR: Molly Hutchison 1
RBI: Molly Hutchison 1 ; Cheyenne Balzer 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Tyler Ross 1 ; Molly Hutchison 1
Game Leaders
AB
3
R
2
H
3
RBI
5
AB
4
R
1
H
2
RBI
1
AB
3
R
1
H
2
RBI
1
AB
4
R
2
H
2
RBI
0
Players Mentioned
P
/ Softball
P
/ Softball
IF
/ SoftballIF/C
/ Softball
C
/ Softball
P/U
/ SoftballOF
/ SoftballOF
/ SoftballOF
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