Northwestern Matches School Steals Record In 8-3 Win At Notre Dame

4/18/2018 7:47:00 PM | Softball

Box Score

SOUTH BEND, Ind. – Led by four Sabrina Rabin stolen bases, Northwestern matched its school-single game record with eight steals in an 8-3 victory over Notre Dame Wednesday at Melissa Cook Stadium.

Northwestern now is 26-13 overall on the season while Notre Dame falls to 28-16 with its loss.

Northwestern next hits the road for a Big Ten series at Rutgers April 20-22 before returning home for a four-game homestand beginning April 25 against Loyola (Chicago) and continuing during Senior Weekend April 27-29 against Iowa.

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Vintage Rabin speed started this game off for the Wildcats. In the top of the first, Rabin beat out an infield single to short before immediately swiping second base. One out later, Morgan Nelson tapped a grounder to first that was misplayed for an error, and Rabin NEVER. STOPPED. RUNNING. She rounded third as a late throw went to first, and scored just ahead of the relay to the plate to put NU on top, 1-0.

Notre Dame made a bid to even the score in the bottom of the first, loading the bases with two outs against NU starter Kenna Wilkey via a single, a walk and a hit batter. The next Irish hitter to the plate hit a slow chopper toward short where Marissa Panko was playing quite deep, but she charged and fired in time to end the inning.

The Irish were able to push ahead with a two-run, bases-loaded single in the second frame. After the base knock, Wilkey stranded two more Irish in scoring position with a foul out and a groundout to keep it a one-run contest, 2-1.

Northwestern struck back hard with a serious two-out rally in the top of the third, plating four runs. It all started with a two-out double off the bat of Rachel Lewis. Nelson then drew a walk before the RBI parade began. Both Sammy Nettling and Marissa Panko ripped singles back up the middle, with Nettling knocking home Lewis and Panko driving in both Nelson and Nettling to put NU back on top. Panko would later take third on a passed ball then score on a fielding error off a Lily Novak grounder to make it a 5-2 contest. The Irish removed starter Katie Beriont after the error and inserted Alexis Holloway, who was able to end the inning.

NU kept its foot on the gas in the fourth, starting the inning with a Morgan Newport infield single. Emma Bartz relieved her on the basepaths and stole second, then moved to third on a Rabin single. Rabin swiped second herself before Lewis hit a sacrifice fly into right that plated Bartz to make it a 6-2 score.

The RBI was Lewis' 50^th of the season; the first-year entered the game ranked seventh in the nation with 1.29 RBIs per game.

Northwestern used another two-out knock in the fifth to tack on a seventh run. With one out, Novak walked before stealing her sixth bag of the season. Then Brooke Marquez lifted a dying single into center that fell just in front of the fielder to allowing Novak to come around to score.

With the score now 7-2 in the bottom of the fifth, Notre Dame led off with a single for its first base hit since the second. Wilkey quickly erased that runner, reaching down and to her left to stab a hard-hit comebacker before starting the rare 1-3-4 double play. Wilkey fanned the next batter to end the inning.

And again, NU scored in the sixth. Rabin singled for the third time and stole second for the third time before Lewis reached on an error and Nelson walked to load the bases with no outs. Nettling then drove a ball to center that was caught deep enough for Rabin to score and make it an 8-2 game heading into the bottom of the inning.

Notre Dame got one run back in the sixth and threatened to add more with a sinking liner deep in the 5-6 hole, but Panko ranged over and sunk to her knees to make a backhand catch just above the dirt to keep it an 8-3 ballgame.

Northwestern did not score in the seventh, but Rabin did walk and swipe her fourth base of the contest to match her own school single-game record that she first accomplished April 18, 2015 at Nebraska. She shares that record with Emily Allard, who did it once in both 2010 and 2011.

NU's eight steals in the contest match the eight it compiled May 11, 2012 against Illinois and earlier this year versus St. John's on February 25.

In the bottom of the seventh, Wilkey closed out the complete-game victory to move to 12-4 on the season. She gave up three unearned runs on seven hits and four walks with two strikeouts.

Rabin finished 3-for-4 at the plate with two runs and her four steals. Nettling and Panko each drove in two runs.