Saturday, March 4
Fullerton, Calif.
2 p.m. CT/Noon PT
Northwestern
6-11
4
vs
7
Florida
20-1
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
R
H
E
Florida
0
3
0
2
0
1
1
7
7
2
Northwestern
0
0
0
0
1
3
0
4
5
2
Northwestern Puts Scare In No. 3 Florida But Falls, 7-4
3/4/2017 5:01:00 PM | Softball
FULLERTON, Calif. – After a slow start, Northwestern put up one of the biggest offensive performances of the season allowed by No. 3 Florida, but fell short of defeating the Gators in a 7-4 Wildcats loss.
Northwestern's loss snaps its five-game winning streak, making the Wildcats record 6-11 on the season. Florida improves to 20-1 on the year with its victory. Of NU's 11 losses, nine have come against ranked opponents including five against teams in the top-10.
Northwestern concludes its Judi Garman Classic with an 11 a.m. CT/9 a.m. PT first pitch tomorrow, Sunday, March 5, against No. 8 Washington in a rematch from a game the Huskies captured last week at the Mary Nutter Collegiate Classic.
After spotting the Gators a 5-0 lead, Northwestern hung four runs on Florida starter Kelly Barnhill, who entered the game having given up just a single run in 44 innings pitched in 2017. The Wildcats got as close as 6-4 in the sixth inning and forced Florida to use three of the four hurlers on its staff.
Prior to Saturday's game, Florida had allowed just 16 runs total in its 20 games on the season. It had only allowed four runs on two previous occasions: In a 4-2 loss to Maryland and Friday night in a 9-4 win over No. 7 UCLA.
After a scoreless first for both sides, Florida found the scoreboard in the top of the second. Northwestern starter Nicole Bond danced around the talented Gators lineup and did not allow a hit, but the patience of the batters began to win out. Three walks loaded the bases with two gone in the frame, but then Florida delivered its first hit of the game. Two runs came in on the single and a third came home when NU threw the ball away on the infield for an error, giving the Gators a 3-0 advantage.
Bond worked a perfect 1-2-3 inning in the top of the third, but a leadoff walk bit back again in the fourth when the next batter collected Florida's second hit of the game: a two-run home run to make the Gators' lead 5-0. A single later in the inning led to Kaley Winegarner replacing Bond in the circle. Though Winegarner walked the bases loaded, she escaped with a little help from Lily Novak at second. The sophomore dove on a ground ball up the middle, stopping it with her glove before flipping to Marissa Panko covering second for a force to end the inning with the score still 5-0.
Krista Williams reached based for the second time in the game with a walk in the fourth, but was stranded at first. Winegarner then pitched a fine top of the fifth, retiring Florida in order on two flyouts and a strikeout.
NU built its first offensive rally of the game in the bottom of the fifth. Brooke Marquez led off with a ball in play toward the third baseman that was booted for an error. One out later Alcy Bush walked and Novak put a tough ball in play toward third that resulted in NU's first base hit of the contest. Then, with two outs, Sabrina Rabin rolled a single out into center field to bring Marquez home and put the Wildcats on the board, 5-1.
Florida got that run back in the top of the sixth, scoring when NU made an error following a leadoff triple. Winegarner recovered to get a flyout and two strikeouts to end the inning.
Northwestern then put together a monster rally in the bottom half. Kenzie Ellis started it with a double down the left field line before giving way to pinch runner Abbey Boyd, who moved to third when Sammy Nettling singled up the middle. Marquez then shot a single into right that got past the right fielder for an error, scoring both Boyd and Nettling and putting Marquez on third.
After the Marquez hit, Florida replaced Barnhill in the circle with Katie Chronister. Pinch hitter Renee Ariola drove a ball deep into foul territory in right field where it was caught, and Marquez sprinted home ahead of the throw to cut NU's deficit all the way down to two, 6-4, before Chronister put down the rally for good.
Florida rallied back again in the seventh, putting runners at second and third with no outs on a single and a double. Winegarner was able to limit the rally to a single run, sending the game into the bottom of the inning.
There, Florida inserted Delanie Gourley, who earlier in the tournament threw a perfect game against Iowa. She retired the Wildcats in order to get the save.
Bond (1-3) took the loss in the circle for NU, going 3.1 innings and allowing five runs (four earned) on three hits and six walks with a K. Winegarner threw the final 3.2 frames, giving up two runs (one earned) on four hits and three walks with three strikeouts.
Marquez led NU at the plate with two base hits.
••••••
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Team Stats
Pitching:
W: Kelly Barnhill (8-0)
L: Bond, Nicole (1-3)
S: Delanie Gourley (2)
Batting:
2B: Janell Wheaton 1
3B: Aleshia Ocasio 1
HR: Jordan Roberts 1
RBI: Amanda Lorenz 2 ; Jordan Roberts 2 ; Aleshia Ocasio 1 ; Justine McLean 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Nicole DeWitt 1 ; Janell Wheaton 2 ; Jordan Roberts 1 ; Aleshia Ocasio 2 ; Justine McLean 1
CS: Amanda Lorenz 1 ; Lily Mann 1
Batting:
2B: Ellis, Kenzie 1
RBI: Rabin, Sabrina 1 ; Marquez, Brooke 1 ; Ariola, Renee 1
SF: Ariola, Renee 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Boyd, Abbey 1 ; Nettling, Sammy 1 ; Marquez, Brooke 2
CS: Williams, Krista 1
Game Leaders
Hitting
AB
4
R
0
H
1
RBI
1
AB
3
R
0
H
1
RBI
0
AB
3
R
1
H
1
RBI
0
AB
3
R
2
H
1
RBI
1
Players Mentioned
OF
/ Softball
P
/ Softball
OF
/ Softball
P
/ SoftballIF
/ SoftballC
/ Softball
IF
/ Softball
IF/OF
/ SoftballOF
/ Softball
OF
/ Softball
P
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