Northwestern University Athletics
Wednesday, March 29
Evanston, Ill.
4 p.m. CT
Northwestern
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UIC
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UIC
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Photo by: Scott Quintard
Seven-Run Third Pushes Northwestern Past UIC, 10-4
3/29/2017 7:02:00 PM | Softball
EVANSTON, Ill. – Under darkening skies and shadowed by the threat of rain all game long, Northwestern erupted for seven runs in the third inning Wednesday to outlast both the forecast and the UIC Flames in a 10-4 Wildcats win at Sharon J. Drysdale Field.
Northwestern improves to 13-16 on the season with its win; UIC now is an even 16-16 with its loss.
Northwestern now heads to Ann Arbor for a three-game set against No. 20 Michigan. A full preview and notes will be released Thursday. NU returns home for a Big Ten midweek doubleheader at 2 p.m. Wednesday, April 5 against Illinois.
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Northwestern starter Kaley Winegarner worked a perfect 11-pitch first, then Sabrina Rabin got the Wildcats rolling in the bottom half with a single into left. Marissa Panko sacrificed Rabin to second, then Morgan Nelson and Anna Petersen joined their junior teammate on the base paths via walks to load the bags with two down.
Krista Williams provided the RBI knock to cap the rally, beating a ball back up the middle and into centerfield that scored both Rabin and Nelson for an early 2-0 Wildcats edge over the Flames.
Feel the grit. The best sights from today's #B1GCats WIN over UIC are here!
— NorthwesternSoftball (@NUSBcats) March 30, 2017
RECAP: https://t.co/dEtclVN5j4 https://t.co/IfIbbRwKzm
Sophomore Lily Novak led off the bottom of the second with a walk for NU. The Wildcats moved her around to third base, from whence she trotted home with two outs when Panko pounded a gapper double to make it a 3-0 contest.
In two-straight innings, catcher Sammy Nettling provided the final out for NU defensively. First, she corralled a ball while up against the backstop to strand two runners in the second before firing down to third to nail a runner stealing in the third.
Petersen led off the bottom of the third against a new UIC hurler with a home run that evoked memories of legendary NU slugger Adrienne Monka. After fouling off myriad pitches, Petersen turned on one and CRUSHED a line drive to left that never rose higher than 12 feet off the ground while trailing flames and smoke behind it. It smashed into the top of the fence and its momentum carried it over and into the McGaw Hall wall for a solo homer and a 4-0 NU lead.
Petersen now has four home runs on the season and three in the last three games. She clubbed two in a Saturday win over No. 22 Wisconsin, including an inside-the-park walk-off in the bottom of the eighth. She has six dingers in her NU career.
Petersen's home run was too low to bring rain, but it did bring runs. NU followed her blast with six more runs, aided by a trio of UIC errors. Both Williams and Brooke Marquez walked immediately following Petersen, leading to a second UIC pitching change in the inning. The new pitcher induced a Novak grounder, but it was booted for a bases-loading error.
Nettling started the after-homer scoring when she was hit by a pitch to force home Williams. Rabin then grounded back to the pitcher, but the throw home was bad and Marquez slid in safely. Panko followed with a two-run single, and Rabin came in on the play when the catcher airmailed a throw to third with designs on putting the speedy NU trail runner out. Panko finished the play on third and finished off the scoring when she raced home on a passed ball, making it a 10-0 game.
With the score the same in the top of the fifth, Kenzie Ellis took over in the circle for Winegarner. A couple of errors preceded a two-out, two-run double and an RBI single, aiding a four-run rally that brought the Flames back from the brink of the run-rule, 10-4.
With one out in the bottom of the fifth, Nelson slashed a single into left and moved into scoring position on an Ellis walk. Abbey Boyd flexed into the lineup to run for Ellis, and a wild pitch moved both Wildcats on base up a bag before UIC ended the rally.
Ellis had a much more comfortable top of the sixth, needing just eight pitches to chuck a 1-2-3 frame. In the bottom of the inning, Marquez roped a leadoff single to right, then Novak walked for the second time. Emma Bartz entered to run for Novak and, once again, both Wildcats moved into scoring position but this game was destined to go the distance.
As darkness fell and raindrops began their assault, Ellis finished off the Flames in the seventh.
Winegarner (3-2) picked up the win, allowing no runs on three hits and two walks with three strikeouts. Ellis ended up with her second save of the year after finishing the game with 3.0 frames of work, giving up four unearned runs on three hits with five strikeouts.
Panko led NU at the plate with two hits and three RBIs, while Williams had two hits and two batted in. Both Novak and Rabin scored twice, and Marquez collected a pair of singles.
••••••
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Team Stats
Pitching:
W: Winegarner, Kaley (3-2)
L: TRUDEAU, Allie (4-3)
S: Ellis, Kenzie (2)
Batting:
2B: MACK-MILLER, Tiana 1 ; SPETH, Jennah 1
RBI: SPETH, Jennah 2 ; SOPPET, Savannah 1
SH: WATTS, Lexi 1
Base Running:
RUNS: WATTS, Lexi 1 ; MACK-MILLER, Tiana 1 ; SPETH, Jennah 1 ; JAMES, Skylee 1
SB: WATTS, Lexi 1
CS: WATTS, Lexi 1
Batting:
2B: Panko, Marissa 1
HR: Petersen, Anna 1
RBI: Panko, Marissa 3 ; Petersen, Anna 1 ; Williams, Krista 2 ; Nettling, Sammy 1
SH: Panko, Marissa 1 ; Nettling, Sammy 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Rabin, Sabrina 2 ; Panko, Marissa 1 ; Nelson, Morgan 1 ; Petersen, Anna 1 ; Williams, Krista 1 ; Marquez, Brooke 1 ; Novak, Lily 2 ; Nettling, Sammy 1
SB: Williams, Krista 1
HBP: Nettling, Sammy 1
Game Leaders
AB
4
R
1
H
2
RBI
3
AB
3
R
1
H
2
RBI
2
AB
3
R
1
H
2
RBI
0
AB
5
R
2
H
1
RBI
0
Players Mentioned
OF
/ Softball
OF
/ Softball
P
/ SoftballIF
/ Softball
IF/C
/ Softball
C
/ Softball
IF
/ SoftballIF/OF
/ Softball
OF
/ SoftballOF
/ SoftballOF
/ Softball
P
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