Northwestern University Athletics
Friday, April 6
West Lafayette, IN
Noon CT/1 p.m. ET
Northwestern
22-12, 5-4
6
at
14
Purdue
9-27, 2-5
1
2
3
4
5
6
R
H
E
Northwestern
0
0
0
2
4
0
6
5
2
Purdue
9
2
0
0
0
3
14
11
1
Photo by: Stephen J. Carrera
Purdue Takes First Game Of Series Over Northwestern
4/6/2018 2:52:00 PM | Softball
WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. – Things went sideways early for Northwestern in its series opener Friday at Purdue when the Wildcats found themselves down by 11 runs early, and though NU came back in earnest it eventually ended up on the short end of a 14-6 (6) decision.
Northwestern now is 22-12 overall on the season, 5-4 in the Big Ten. Purdue is 9-27 on the year, 2-5 in the conference.
The two teams meet again in game two of this series at 2 p.m. CT/3 p.m. ET tomorrow, Saturday, April 7. Then, following Sunday's noon CT finale, Northwestern returns home April 13-15 to host No. 23 Ohio State at Sharon J. Drysdale Field.
BUY YOUR NORTHWESTERN TICKETS AND SEASON PASSES HERE!
This game started as so many have over the past four years with senior Sabrina Rabin reaching first base and immediately stealing second. In this specific scenario, Rabin drew a walk and one out later Rachel Lewis joined her on base via her own walk, but NU was unable to get any runs across the plate.
The bottom of the first was something that is NOT like so many games in NU history. Purdue took advantage of two errors, two hit batters and a walk by adding four hits and plating nine runs against the Wildcats. Only two of those runs ended up being earned, with both charged to starter Morgan Newport. Kenna Wilkey entered the circle midway through the rally.
In the second, a misplayed ball ruled a hit preceded a Purdue home run, making it an 11-0 game.
The Wildcats got on the board in the top of the fourth, beginning their rally with two-out walks to Newport and Wilkey. Abbey Boyd replaced Newport on the base paths, and both she and Wilkey ran around to score when a deep Mac Dunlap fly to left was dropped for an error, making it an 11-2 contest.
Wilkey kept Purdue off the board in both the third and the fourth innings, then Lewis and Morgan Nelson made sure this game would continue past the fifth. With Northwestern facing a run-rule, Lewis and Nelson went back-to-back jacks for the #B1GCats for the third time this season, each lining solo shots over the left-field wall to make it 11-4.
Lewis now has 12 home runs on the year (six in Big Ten play) while Nelson has seven home runs this season and 17 for her career. The pair also has gone back-to-back March 9 against Penn State and March 28 at Illinois this season.
The rally continued with a Sammy Nettling walk, a Lily Novak fielder's choice ball that erased Nettling at second and then a Newport walk. Wilkey followed with a two-out single into right that brought Novak home and sent Newport to third. At that point, Purdue replaced its starting pitcher Kaitlynn Moody with Sydney Bates, who immediately walked both Dunlap and Rabin to force Newport home and cut the NU deficit to five, 11-6, before the inning came to a close.
Nettling smoked a triple in the sixth but ended that offensive inning standing on base. Purdue then re-seized the momentum and scored three times in the bottom half to end the game.
Newport (10-5) took the loss, allowing six runs (just two earned) on four hits in one-third of an inning. Wilkey threw the remaining 5.1 frames, giving up eight runs (five earned) on six hits and four walks with four strikeouts.
Lewis walked three times during a 1-for-1 day at the plate in which her only hit was a solo home run. Of NU's five hits in the game, two were homers and two others were triples.
Northwestern now is 22-12 overall on the season, 5-4 in the Big Ten. Purdue is 9-27 on the year, 2-5 in the conference.
The two teams meet again in game two of this series at 2 p.m. CT/3 p.m. ET tomorrow, Saturday, April 7. Then, following Sunday's noon CT finale, Northwestern returns home April 13-15 to host No. 23 Ohio State at Sharon J. Drysdale Field.
BUY YOUR NORTHWESTERN TICKETS AND SEASON PASSES HERE!
This game started as so many have over the past four years with senior Sabrina Rabin reaching first base and immediately stealing second. In this specific scenario, Rabin drew a walk and one out later Rachel Lewis joined her on base via her own walk, but NU was unable to get any runs across the plate.
The bottom of the first was something that is NOT like so many games in NU history. Purdue took advantage of two errors, two hit batters and a walk by adding four hits and plating nine runs against the Wildcats. Only two of those runs ended up being earned, with both charged to starter Morgan Newport. Kenna Wilkey entered the circle midway through the rally.
In the second, a misplayed ball ruled a hit preceded a Purdue home run, making it an 11-0 game.
The Wildcats got on the board in the top of the fourth, beginning their rally with two-out walks to Newport and Wilkey. Abbey Boyd replaced Newport on the base paths, and both she and Wilkey ran around to score when a deep Mac Dunlap fly to left was dropped for an error, making it an 11-2 contest.
Wilkey kept Purdue off the board in both the third and the fourth innings, then Lewis and Morgan Nelson made sure this game would continue past the fifth. With Northwestern facing a run-rule, Lewis and Nelson went back-to-back jacks for the #B1GCats for the third time this season, each lining solo shots over the left-field wall to make it 11-4.
Lewis now has 12 home runs on the year (six in Big Ten play) while Nelson has seven home runs this season and 17 for her career. The pair also has gone back-to-back March 9 against Penn State and March 28 at Illinois this season.
The rally continued with a Sammy Nettling walk, a Lily Novak fielder's choice ball that erased Nettling at second and then a Newport walk. Wilkey followed with a two-out single into right that brought Novak home and sent Newport to third. At that point, Purdue replaced its starting pitcher Kaitlynn Moody with Sydney Bates, who immediately walked both Dunlap and Rabin to force Newport home and cut the NU deficit to five, 11-6, before the inning came to a close.
Nettling smoked a triple in the sixth but ended that offensive inning standing on base. Purdue then re-seized the momentum and scored three times in the bottom half to end the game.
Newport (10-5) took the loss, allowing six runs (just two earned) on four hits in one-third of an inning. Wilkey threw the remaining 5.1 frames, giving up eight runs (five earned) on six hits and four walks with four strikeouts.
Lewis walked three times during a 1-for-1 day at the plate in which her only hit was a solo home run. Of NU's five hits in the game, two were homers and two others were triples.
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Team Stats
Pitching:
W: Kaitlynn Moody (7-14)
L: Newport, Morgan (10-5)
Batting:
3B: Panko, Marissa 1 ; Nettling, Sammy 1
HR: Lewis, Rachel 1 ; Nelson, Morgan 1
RBI: Rabin, Sabrina 1 ; Lewis, Rachel 1 ; Nelson, Morgan 1 ; Wilkey, Kenna 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Lewis, Rachel 1 ; Nelson, Morgan 1 ; Novak, Lily 1 ; Newport, Morgan 1 ; Wilkey, Kenna 1 ; Boyd, Abbey 1
SB: Rabin, Sabrina 1 ; Lewis, Rachel 1
CS: Lewis, Rachel 1
Batting:
2B: Jenny Behan 2 ; Stephanie Ramsey 1 ; Emily Kenny 1
HR: Siena Wagner 1
RBI: Ryleigh Scott 1 ; Jenny Behan 5 ; Siena Wagner 2 ; Stephanie Ramsey 2 ; Emily Kenny 3 ; Lexi Huffman 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Mallory Baker 2 ; Ryleigh Scott 2 ; Jenny Behan 2 ; Alexa Binckes 1 ; Halle Hixenbaugh 2 ; Siena Wagner 2 ; Stephanie Ramsey 1 ; Emily Kenny 1 ; Lexi Huffman 1
HBP: Alexa Binckes 1 ; Lexi Huffman 1
Game Leaders
AB
4
R
0
H
1
RBI
0
AB
1
R
1
H
1
RBI
1
AB
4
R
1
H
1
RBI
1
AB
3
R
0
H
1
RBI
0
Players Mentioned
OF
/ Softball
IF
/ SoftballIF/OF
/ SoftballIF/C
/ SoftballC
/ Softball
P/U
/ Softball
IF
/ Softball
OF
/ Softball
P
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