Friday, February 9
Tempe, Ariz.
12:30 p.m. CT/11:30 a.m. MT
Northwestern
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Arizona
1-0
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Northwestern
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Arizona
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2
Sixth-Inning Rally Gives No. 7 Arizona Win Over Northwestern, 4-1
2/9/2018 1:59:00 PM | Softball
TEMPE, Ariz. – In the season-opener for both schools, Northwestern and No. 7 Arizona dueled through five tight innings Friday at the Kajikawa Classic at Farrington Stadium before the Pac-12 Wildcats broke through for three runs in the bottom of the sixth to take a 4-1 victory.
Northwestern returns to action for Game Two in 2018 tonight at 8:30 p.m. CT/7:30 p.m. MT against San Diego State at the Tempe Sports Complex.
NU scored in the first inning and Arizona tied things with a run in the third, and that's where the game remained until the seventh-ranked Wildcats posted their big rally in the last half of the sixth.
Though Arizona won last year's meeting against Northwestern handily, the previous five games between the schools over the last decade have been classic. The Pac-12 Wildcats won three of them – all by one-run margins – while the #B1GCats won a pair by scores of 8-5 and 3-1. This game fell into the latter category of a well-played early-season classic between the two powerhouse programs.
On the first pitch of the 2018 season, senior Sabrina Rabin sent a soft fly ball into centerfield that the fielder had to race in on, and though she got her glove on it she was unable to secure it and Rabin stood on second after the error. Both Marissa Panko and first-year Rachel Lewis drew walks behind Rabin to load the bases with no outs before Arizona was able to record a pair of outs with no runs across. That changed, however, when junior Lily Novak took a glancing blow to the helmet on a two-out offering, earning an RBI the hard way and giving NU a 1-0 lead to the bottom half of the first.
In that bottom half, Arizona loaded the bases with two outs against NU starter Kaley Winegarner on a hit, an HBP and an error. The next batter hit a sharp grounder up the middle where first-year Rachel Lewis gloved it and underhand flipped to Panko covering second to end the frame.
Northwestern nearly added two more to its tally in the second. Brooke Marquez led off with a solid single before first-year Mac Dunlap blasted a ball to left field that was caught as the fielder slammed into the wall, missing out on a home run by maybe a foot.
Arizona knotted the score in the bottom of the third, turning a long double that Rabin just missed catching in center into a run when, with one out, the batter banged a long single off the wall in left. That was the only action Northwestern allowed in the frame, and the only substantive action in the game until the bottom of the fifth.
In that inning, the first two Arizona batters to the plate reached on a single and a walk. The next batter then hit a strong ground ball toward second, where Lewis gobbled it up and deftly flipped to Panko, who turned over to Novak for a 4-6-3 rally killing double play. With a runner now at third but two outs, Winegarner got the next batter to fly out to Rabin in center to keep the contest tied heading into the sixth.
Arizona turned to returning ace Taylor McQuillin for the sixth inning, and she retired the #B1GCats 5-6-7 batters in order in the frame. The Pac-12 Wildcats then started a rally in the bottom half, getting a K for a two-run home run and a 3-1 Arizona lead.
Kenzie Ellis took over in the circle from Winegarner at that point, and Arizona was able to rally for one more run before an Ellis strikeout with the bases loaded ended the inning with NU trailing, 4-1.
In the top of the seventh, Marquez led off with her second single of the game. Abbey Boyd entered to run for her and moved to second on a Dunlap sacrifice bunt. Rabin joined her on base via a walk to bring the tying run to the plate, but two strikeouts ended the game.
Winegarner (0-1) took the loss despite largely pitching well, allowing three runs on seven hits and a walk with two strikeouts in five-plus innings. Ellis allowed one run on two hits and two walks with a K in one frame in the circle.
Marquez led Northwestern at the plate with two singles.
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Team Stats
Pitching:
W: McQuillin, Taylor (1-0)
L: Winegarner, Kaley (0-1)
Batting:
RBI: Novak, Lily 1
SH: Dunlap, Mac 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Rabin, Sabrina 1
SB: Lewis, Rachel 1
HBP: Novak, Lily 1
Batting:
2B: Carranco, Reyna 1 ; Craighton, Aleah 1
HR: Palomino, Alyssa 1
RBI: Carranco, Reyna 1 ; Harper, Jessie 1 ; Palomino, Alyssa 2
Base Running:
RUNS: Carranco, Reyna 1 ; Lindley, Jaycee 1 ; Palomino, Alyssa 1 ; Davis, Ivy 1
HBP: Harper, Jessie 1
Game Leaders
Hitting
AB
3
R
0
H
2
RBI
0
AB
3
R
0
H
1
RBI
0
AB
3
R
1
H
0
RBI
0
AB
3
R
0
H
0
RBI
0
Players Mentioned
OF
/ Softball
IF
/ Softball
P
/ SoftballIF/OF
/ SoftballIF
/ Softball
IF
/ SoftballIF/OF
/ SoftballOF
/ Softball
P
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