Big Seventh Inning Gives No. 22 Badgers 7-1 Win Over Wildcats

3/26/2017 2:19:00 PM | Softball

Box Score

EVANSTON, Ill. – The series finale between Northwestern and No. 22 Wisconsin Sunday at Sharon J. Drysdale Field was a tight, well-pitched affair between both teams until the Badgers plated five runs in the seventh inning to pull away for a 7-1 win over the Wildcats.

Northwestern now is 12-16 on the season following its loss, 1-2 in the Big Ten, Wisconsin improves to 23-3, 2-1 in the conference with its win. The Badgers' win in the series is just their second in the last 15 years against the Wildcats.

NU now has played exactly half of its games this season against ranked opponents. Those contests account for 12 of the Wildcats' 16 losses on the year.

The Wildcats next host the UIC Flames in a midweek nonconference contest at 4 p.m. Wednesday, March 29.

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For the second-straight game, centerfielder Sabrina Rabin started the #B1GCats off with a #B1G defensive play. With nobody out and one on in the top of the first, the Wisconsin batter sent a deep fly ball to dead center. Rabin raced back to the track, put her right hand on the fence and timed her leap perfectly, reaching over the barrier and bringing the ball back into the park.

That play kept the game scoreless into the third inning when the Badgers broke through for two runs on a two-out rally. With one out in the frame, Wisconsin drew a walk but Sammy Nettling quickly threw that runner out attempting to steal. A single, a walk and a single followed, however, and a pair of runs hit the board.

Northwestern put runners on base throughout, but was unable to string together any base knocks in the same inning. Nettling singled in the second, Krista Williams singled in the third and Morgan Nelson singled in the fourth -- the definition of scattering hits for Wisconsin starter Kaitlyn Menz.

Wisconsin threatened to add to its lead in the top of the fifth, loading the bases with two outs. In a tense moment in the contest, Bond elicited a ground ball to second base that Brooke Marquez handled expertly to end the rally.

Northwestern put two runners on base at the same time for the first time in the contest when Marissa Panko and Kenzie Ellis both walked with two outs in the sixth. Yet again, Wisconsin prevented any type of a run-scoring rally.

In the top of the seventh, the Badgers broke away for good in the contest with a five-run rally, making it a 7-0 game. The leadoff batter in the frame hit a solo home run, then the next hit a single leading to Ellis taking over in the circle. An RBI single and the big blow, a three-run home run, accounted for the rest of the runs in the inning.

Northwestern found the scoreboard for a single run in the bottom of the seventh. With one out, pinch hitter Morgan Newport reached on an error with a ball through the wickets of the third baseman. She moved to second base on a wild pitch before, with two outs, pinch hitter Lily Novak singled into center to drive in Newport and account for the final 7-1 score.

Bond (2-5) took the loss in six-plus innings, allowing four runs on five hits and six walks with two strikeouts. Four of Bond's five losses on the season have come against ranked opponents.

Ellis was charged with three runs on two hits and two walks with two Ks.