Wildcats Erase Four-Run Deficit To Defeat Nittany Lions, 6-4

3/10/2018 1:51:00 PM | Softball

Box Score

HOUSTON – Kenna Wilkey threw six hitless innings of relief Saturday to allow Northwestern to come back from a four-run hole against Penn State, earning the Wildcats a 6-4 win over the Nittany Lions at the Houston Hilton Plaza Classic.

Northwestern improves to 13-8 overall on the season with its win while Penn State now is 1-15 on the year.

NU takes on Houston at 4:30 p.m. CT later this afternoon in its fourth game at the Hilton Plaza Classic.

Penn State jumped on Northwestern and starter Nicole Bond quickly in the top of the first, plating four runs thanks to a two-run home run and a two-run double. After a leadoff walk in the second inning, Wilkey entered the circle in relief and retired the PSU side in order to keep the deficit at four runs, 4-0.

Northwestern nearly got on the board in the bottom of the second. Morgan Nelson led off with a single and stole second, and was standing on third with two outs when Morgan Newport sent a deep fly ball into the left-centerfield gap. The PSU centerfield, however, was able to track it down after a long run to strand Nelson.

In the top of the third, Wilkey issued a two-out hit by pitch to the sixth batter she faced in the game, breaking a streak of 18-consecutive Nittany Lions retired by Wilkey dating to Friday's contest between the two teams. In shutting out Penn State, Wilkey set down the final 13 batters she faced in a row before mowing through the first five she saw on Saturday. No worries in this specific case, however, as Wilkey fanned the ensuing Nittany Lion on three pitches.

Northwestern began its comeback in earnest in the bottom of the third. Sammy Nettling, Mac Dunlap and Sabrina Rabin got it going with consecutive singles to load the bases with no outs. After a pop-up, Rachel Lewis drew an RBI walk, then Nelson drove home Dunlap with an RBI groundout. A third run came in when a Lily Novak ground ball was mishandled at first for an error, making it a one-run ballgame heading into the fourth, 4-3.

The score remained the same until the bottom of the fifth when Marissa Panko and Lewis led off the frame with back-to-back doubles, knotting the score at 4-4. Then, the Wildcats surged into the lead. Nelson set up the go-ahead play with a fielder's choice grounder that Penn State elected to take to third, but Lewis beat out the throw. Nelson then stole second before Novak laid down a sacrifice bunt. The throw on the bunt came home too late to get Lewis, and Novak danced around long enough between first and second to draw a throw, allowing Nelson to score as well for a 6-4 NU lead.

From there, Wilkey kept Penn State at bay to complete the come-from-behind victory. Wilkey (5-3) threw six hitless innings of relief for her second win over Penn State on the weekend, running her total shutout innings against the Nittany Lions to 13 following a complete-game shutout Friday. She walked three and fanned seven.

Rabin and Nettling each had two hits apiece at the plate for NU while Lewis drove in a pair.