Saturday, March 4
Fullerton, Calif.
11:30 a.m. CT/9:30 a.m. PT
Northwestern
6-10
5
vs
3
Fresno State
13-7
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
R
H
E
Fresno State
0
0
2
1
0
0
0
3
7
0
Northwestern
0
2
0
0
2
1
X
5
7
0
Photo by: Scott Quintard
#B1GCats Remain Perfect at Garman With 5-3 Win Over Bulldogs
3/4/2017 2:00:00 PM | Softball
FULLERTON, Calif. – Northwestern remained perfect at the Judi Garman Classic hosted Cal State Fullerton with a 5-3 victory over Fresno State Saturday on Anderson Family Field.
Northwestern runs its current winning streak to five games and moves to 6-10 on the season with the victory. Fresno State falls to 3-1 at the tournament and now is 13-7 overall on the year.
Northwestern returns to action immediately against No. 3 Florida at the Judi Garman Classic.
To start Saturday's first game, base runners were at a premium early against good pitching and a wide zone. In the bottom of the second, the Wildcats methodically began the first rally of the contest. Though she ended up striking out, Morgan Nelson's leadoff at-bat in the frame went 10 pitches, setting the stage for an extended full-count walk drawn by Sammy Nettling. The hits followed with a Brooke Marquez looping single toward left field before Anna Petersen doubled over the bag at third to send Nettling to plate for a 1-0 Northwestern lead.
Alcy Bush drew her own full-count walk after the Petey two-bagger to load the bases, then with two outs, Sabrina Rabin singled to the shortstop to force Marquez home and make it a 2-0 game. Such is Rabin's speed and bat control that despite the bases being loaded, the shortstop had only one play -- and Rabin beat the throw to first. Fresno State avoided another RBI base knock when Krista Williams' line drive ricocheted off the third-baseman's glove into the shortstop's glove to end the inning.
In the top of the third, Fresno State tied the score on a pair of solo home runs. The first led off the frame against Northwestern starter Kenzie Ellis while the second came with two outs.
In the top of the fourth, first-year Morgan Newport entered the circle in relief of Ellis. The first two batters went single-double to push Fresno State into the lead, 3-2. The next Bulldog hit a fly ball to deep left-center where Rabin tracked it down. The runner at second tagged and went to third before attempting to score when Rabin's throw went wide of the third-base bag. Marquez corralled it and fired to Nettling at the plate for an unconventional 8-5-2 double play. Newport then fanned the next batter to keep the Wildcats within a run.
After Newport stranded two more Bulldogs in scoring position in the top of the fifth, Northwestern grabbed the lead back. Williams and Newport each walked to begin the bottom half, then Lily Novak advanced them both with a textbook sacrifice bunt. Nettling fired a single back through the middle to drive Williams across the plate before a Marquez RBI groundout brought Newport home to push NU back on top, 4-3.
Newport gave the Wildcats a 1-2-3 shutdown inning in the top of the sixth, and NU's speedy slappers added an insurance run in the bottom half. With two outs, Rabin singled for the second time in the game and stole second. She then was off with the pitch on a Williams single into left, allowing Rabin to easily run home to make it a 5-3 game.
In the top of the seventh, Newport got the first batter to fly out to center before an infield single brought the tying run to the plate. That Bulldog sent a ball to the deepest part of the park, but Rabin squared up on the warning track to grab out number two. An error put the tying run on base, but Newport calmly got a comebacker to give the Wildcats their third-straight win at the Garman.
Newport now is 2-0 at the tournament with a save, earning this victory by going 4.0 innings of relief and allowing one run on four hits and a walk with three strikeouts. Ellis tossed 3.0 innings in her start, giving up two runs on two hits and a walk with three Ks.
Rabin led NU at the plate with a pair of hits, a steal, an RBI and a run.
Northwestern runs its current winning streak to five games and moves to 6-10 on the season with the victory. Fresno State falls to 3-1 at the tournament and now is 13-7 overall on the year.
Northwestern returns to action immediately against No. 3 Florida at the Judi Garman Classic.
To start Saturday's first game, base runners were at a premium early against good pitching and a wide zone. In the bottom of the second, the Wildcats methodically began the first rally of the contest. Though she ended up striking out, Morgan Nelson's leadoff at-bat in the frame went 10 pitches, setting the stage for an extended full-count walk drawn by Sammy Nettling. The hits followed with a Brooke Marquez looping single toward left field before Anna Petersen doubled over the bag at third to send Nettling to plate for a 1-0 Northwestern lead.
Alcy Bush drew her own full-count walk after the Petey two-bagger to load the bases, then with two outs, Sabrina Rabin singled to the shortstop to force Marquez home and make it a 2-0 game. Such is Rabin's speed and bat control that despite the bases being loaded, the shortstop had only one play -- and Rabin beat the throw to first. Fresno State avoided another RBI base knock when Krista Williams' line drive ricocheted off the third-baseman's glove into the shortstop's glove to end the inning.
In the top of the third, Fresno State tied the score on a pair of solo home runs. The first led off the frame against Northwestern starter Kenzie Ellis while the second came with two outs.
In the top of the fourth, first-year Morgan Newport entered the circle in relief of Ellis. The first two batters went single-double to push Fresno State into the lead, 3-2. The next Bulldog hit a fly ball to deep left-center where Rabin tracked it down. The runner at second tagged and went to third before attempting to score when Rabin's throw went wide of the third-base bag. Marquez corralled it and fired to Nettling at the plate for an unconventional 8-5-2 double play. Newport then fanned the next batter to keep the Wildcats within a run.
After Newport stranded two more Bulldogs in scoring position in the top of the fifth, Northwestern grabbed the lead back. Williams and Newport each walked to begin the bottom half, then Lily Novak advanced them both with a textbook sacrifice bunt. Nettling fired a single back through the middle to drive Williams across the plate before a Marquez RBI groundout brought Newport home to push NU back on top, 4-3.
Newport gave the Wildcats a 1-2-3 shutdown inning in the top of the sixth, and NU's speedy slappers added an insurance run in the bottom half. With two outs, Rabin singled for the second time in the game and stole second. She then was off with the pitch on a Williams single into left, allowing Rabin to easily run home to make it a 5-3 game.
In the top of the seventh, Newport got the first batter to fly out to center before an infield single brought the tying run to the plate. That Bulldog sent a ball to the deepest part of the park, but Rabin squared up on the warning track to grab out number two. An error put the tying run on base, but Newport calmly got a comebacker to give the Wildcats their third-straight win at the Garman.
Newport now is 2-0 at the tournament with a save, earning this victory by going 4.0 innings of relief and allowing one run on four hits and a walk with three strikeouts. Ellis tossed 3.0 innings in her start, giving up two runs on two hits and a walk with three Ks.
Rabin led NU at the plate with a pair of hits, a steal, an RBI and a run.
••••••
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Team Stats
Pitching:
W: Newport, Morgan (3-2)
L: DUNG, Kamalani (9-4)
Batting:
2B: MCHELLON, Savannah 1
HR: HERNANDEZ, Vanessa 1 ; BROUSSARD, Schuylar 1
RBI: HERNANDEZ, Vanessa 1 ; MCHELLON, Savannah 1 ; BROUSSARD, Schuylar 1
Base Running:
RUNS: HERNANDEZ, Vanessa 1 ; WILLMON, Lindsey 1 ; BROUSSARD, Schuylar 1
SB: ROHLEDER, Miranda 1 ; CASTELLON, Katie 1
Batting:
2B: Petersen, Anna 1
RBI: Rabin, Sabrina 1 ; Williams, Krista 1 ; Nettling, Sammy 1 ; Marquez, Brooke 1 ; Petersen, Anna 1
SH: Novak, Lily 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Rabin, Sabrina 1 ; Williams, Krista 1 ; Newport, Morgan 1 ; Nettling, Sammy 1 ; Marquez, Brooke 1
SB: Rabin, Sabrina 1 ; Williams, Krista 1
Game Leaders
Hitting
AB
4
R
1
H
2
RBI
1
AB
3
R
1
H
1
RBI
1
AB
2
R
0
H
1
RBI
0
AB
1
R
1
H
1
RBI
1
Players Mentioned
P
/ Softball
IF
/ SoftballIF/C
/ SoftballC
/ Softball
P/U
/ Softball
IF
/ Softball
OF
/ SoftballOF
/ SoftballOF
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