Northwestern Closes Out Santa Clara, 7-2

3/19/2017 4:26:00 PM | Softball

Box Score

SANTA CLARA, Calif. – Northwestern jumped ahead early and pulled away late Sunday in its sixth and final game at the Santa Clara Round Robin, defeating the host Broncos, 7-2.

Northwestern finishes the tournament with a 4-2 record and now is 10-14 overall on the season. Santa Clara is 7-18 on the year with its loss.

Northwestern will remain in California, returning to action in a midweek game scheduled for 5 p.m. CT/3 p.m. PT at Saint Mary's.

NU opens its home schedule March 24-26 against No. 24 Wisconsin at Sharon J. Drysdale Field. First pitch Friday, March 24, is scheduled for 4 p.m. CT. Tickets are available at NUsports.com, and the Wildcats are having a season-ticket giveaway extravaganza beginning Monday, March 20, with one raffle prize per day being awarded to current 2017 season ticket holders. Get in on the action!

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After hanging 10 runs on Long Beach State early Sunday morning in a 10-2 victory, Northwestern rode its momentum right into its tournament finale with the Broncos. Both Krista Williams and Marissa Panko drew walks to start the game, and Santa Clara immediately replaced starter Aubree Kim -- who pitched against the Wildcats Saturday night -- with Ciara Gonzalez. Sammy Nettling greeted Gonzalez with a three-run bolt over the fence in left field, immediately staking NU to a 3-0 lead.

For Nettling, it was her first home run of the season and the first since her freshman year after an injury in 2016 sapped much of her power. She now has seven homers in her career.

NU continued to rally against Gonzalez with Anna Petersen drawing a walk and Brooke Marquez continuing her red-hot hitting with a single to center, but the extended threat ended there.

Santa Clara put its leadoff batter of the game aboard on an infield single against Northwestern starter Kenzie Ellis, but Nettling stepped up on defense, too, completing a strike-em-out, throw-em-out double play to erase the runner.

Northwestern added a run with a two-out rally in the top of the second. With two outs, Panko walked for the second time in the game and Santa Clara lifted Gonzalez for Micaela Vierra. Nettling smashed the third pitch she saw from Vierra through the left side of the infield to score Panko and make it a 4-0 contest.

Santa Clara got on the board in the bottom of the second, starting a two-run rally with a Northwestern error followed by a pair of base hits to cut the Wildcats' lead in half, 4-2.

Both offenses hit the skids after the early offense, with neither team scoring at all or even really threatening until the top of the seventh. In that inning, Panko led off with a bunt single, stole second and moved to third when Nettling singled for her third hit of the game. Eva Stees entered to run for Nettling and stole second, then Ellis crushed a two-run double off the fence in left center to double the Wildcats' lead, 6-2.

Abbey Boyd flexed into the lineup to run for Ellis, scoring herself when Morgan Nelson pummeled a double of her into left-center to cap the rally and the game offensively, 7-2.

Santa Clara attempted a rally of its own in the bottom of the seventh, putting its first two batters aboard. A ground ball came straight to Nelson at third, however, and the sophomore stepped on third and fired to first for a rally-crippling double play. The Broncos were not done yet, loading the bases on a single and walk with two down before a grounder ended it.

Ellis (3-5) got the complete-game victory, allowing two runs (one earned) on seven hits and three walks with two strikeouts.

Nettling matched her career best with four RBIs in her three-hit game. Panko had a career-best three runs scored for the Wildcats. Ellis also drove in two.