Northwestern Bows Out in Big Ten Quarterfinal, 5-1

5/12/2017 12:12:00 PM | Softball

Box Score

ANN ARBOR, Mich. – Northwestern thwarted rally after rally Friday morning in a Big Ten Tournament quarterfinal matchup against top seed and second-ranked Minnesota, but the Gophers finally broke through for a big inning in the bottom of the sixth to take a 5-1 decision over the Wildcats.

Northwestern concludes its season with a 25-29 overall record. Minnesota moves on to the semifinal round with a record of 52-3.

Nicole Bond got the call for the third time this season to start against powerful Minnesota, which entered the game batting .351 as a team and averaging 7.5 runs per game. In her first start against the Gophers in Minneapolis earlier in the year, Bond held the Gophers to just two hits in a complete-game effort.

Friday Bond went toe-to-toe with Minnesota All-American Sara Groenewegen for the vast majority of the game. She effectively scattered singles (all of the Gophers' hits in this game were singles) and walks, allowing just one run in each of the second and fifth innings to keep the contest tight to the end.

The Gophers put runners on the corners with two outs in the first inning before Bond got a weak bouncer to escape. Minnesota cornered up once more in the second, doing so with one out. Bond again got a weak bouncer from the next batter, but this time it plated a run to give the Gophers a 1-0 lead after two frames.

Meanwhile, Groenewegen brought her postseason A game from the beginning. The Wildcats had little success the first time through the order before the top of the lineup put some pressure on the Minnesota defense in the fourth. Sabrina Rabin had a near-perfect bunt roll just foul before grounding out and Marissa Panko also forced the left side to play a bunt flawlessly to put her out. Senior Krista Williams was the biggest robbery victim when the Gophers' shortstop went into a full drive to catch a liner up the middle and prevent a Williams' base knock.

In the bottom of the fourth, the Gophers worked a leadoff walk against Bond. The next batter blistered a line drive toward left-center, but Panko did a hop and snared it, firing in one motion to first to double off the runner and thwart a potential rally.

With two outs and two on in the fifth, the Gophers got a single into left field. Williams came up firing to the cutoff Morgan Nelson, who wheeled and threw home, but the runner slid just around the Sammy Nettling tag to give Minnesota its second run. With runners now at second and third, Bond got the next batter to ground out harmlessly and keep it a 2-0 game.

It was a tight game throughout until the bounces went Minnesota's way in a big bottom of the sixth. After a leadoff walk that was erased on a fielder's choice grounder, the Gophers got four-straight singles on balls that bounced over fielder's or died just in front of them, resulting in three runs coming in for a 5-0 score. At that point, first-year Morgan Newport entered in relief of Bond with runners at the corners and one away. Newport got the first batter she faced to pop up, walked the second and then notched a swinging K with the bases loaded the end the frame.

Rabin drew a full-count walk off Groenewegen in the top of the seventh, representing NU's first baserunner in the entire game. Williams grounded to third to move Rabin up a base, then Panko struck out but on a wild pitch, allowing her to reach first and Rabin to take third.

Morgan Nelson put Northwestern on the board with a sacrifice fly into foul territory in left field, bringing home Rabin and making it a 5-1 contest. Now with two outs, Panko moved to third on a passed ball, Sammy Nettling walked and Abbey Boyd took over running duties at first. Groenewegen, however, ended the rally and the game before NU could score any more.

Bond tossed a gutsy 5.1 innings in her start, allowing five runs on 10 singles and six walks with a K. The sixth inning made a strong outing look much worse statistically than it was. Newport got the final two-thirds of an inning, walking one and striking out one.

The game marked the final contest in purple for seniors Williams, Anna Petersen and Alcy Bush.

Williams played every game for NU over the last two seasons, becoming a defensive phenomenon in the outfield while serving in the middle of the Wildcats' patented slapper "conehead line."

In her first full season as an everyday starter, Petersen clubbed 14 doubles in 2017, good for fifth place on NU's single-season list. She was named the Big Ten Player of the Week on April 10 of this year.

Bush finally won All-Big Ten Defensive team honors at first base this season after several spectacular seasons at the position.