NU Walks Off On Iowa in Big Ten Tourney Quarterfinal, 2-1 (8)

5/12/2018 1:10:00 PM | Softball

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MADISON, Wis. – First-year pitcher Kenna Wilkey was incredible Saturday in a Big Ten Tournament quarterfinal matchup against No. 12 seed Iowa, firing a complete-game three-hitter in a 2-1 (8) extra-inning victory at Goodman Diamond.

Northwestern now is 35-16 overall on the season while Iowa is 21-32. The game was originally scheduled for 7 p.m. Friday night, but was postponed until 10:30 a.m. Saturday by massive rain storms Friday.

NU advances to the semifinal round later today to take on No. 8 seed Michigan State (26-25), which took out No. 1 seed Michigan by a 7-0 score in the wee hours early Saturday morning. First pitch of that semifinal is scheduled for 3:30 p.m. live on Big Ten Network.

Iowa got on the board first with a one-out walk and a double in the top of the first inning against Northwestern starter Wilkey. The Hawkeye batter-runner ended up at third base on the play, and Wilkey successfully stranded her there with a pair of strikeouts.

NU tied it up with a rally in the bottom of the second against Iowa's ace Allison Doocy. Marissa Panko fought off a nasty off-speed offering and beat out an infield single to start the frame. She moved to second on a Brooke Marquez sacrifice bunt, to third on a Wilkey fly out and scored when Morgan Newport ripped a full-count, two-out single into right to know the score, 1-1.

Tie game! Morgan Newport with a two-out, full-count RBI single in the bottom of the second to score Marissa Panko!#B1GCats 1, Iowa 1 | T3 pic.twitter.com/VX6JoinGvi
— NorthwesternSoftball (@NUSBcats) May 12, 2018

After the NU score, Wilkey lit up in the circle. She had a 1-2-3 top of the third thanks in part to a tremendous sliding catch from Sabrina Rabin in center. Then, in the fourth, Wilkey pulled off one of the most-rare feats in sport: an Immaculate Inning! She fanned the side on just nine pitches to run her K total in the game to six before, two innings later, she made it 15-straight Hawkeyes retired after six frames in the circle.

SABRINA RABIN! Goes into a slide to make a backhand catch in the third, helping Kenna Wilkey to a 1-2-3 shutdown inning!#B1GCats 1, Iowa 1 | B3 pic.twitter.com/VHu31tYFqj
— NorthwesternSoftball (@NUSBcats) May 12, 2018

IMMACULATE INNING ALERT!!!

Kenna Wilkey strikes out the side in the fourth on NINE pitches!! Here is the final one:#B1GCats 1, Iowa 1 | B4 pic.twitter.com/fKmEjycNmy
— NorthwesternSoftball (@NUSBcats) May 12, 2018

Doocy also settled in to match Wilkey in this Big Ten Tournament pitcher's duel. After a two-out Wilkey double in the fourth, Doocy retired seven-straight Wildcats to send the game into the seventh inning still tied at one apiece.

Iowa broke the Wilkey spell in the top of the seventh, beginning the inning with a walk and a single to put runners at first and second with nobody out. The next batter attempted a sacrifice, but Mac Dunlap pounced on it from third, did a 180 and fired to Rachel Lewis at third base to get the lead runner. Sammy Nettling then gloved a foul ball right at the backstop net before an infield pop-up stranded both runners.

In the bottom half, Doocy retired the 6-7-8 Wildcats in the lineup in order to send the contest into extras.

Iowa got a pair of two-out base runners against Wilkey in the top of the eighth before the first-year induced a weak inch-worm grounder back to her right. She reached across her body and lunged to the ground to stab it, then threw to first from her knees to end the inning.

Lily Novak led off the bottom of the eighth with a single back through the middle, giving NU its first base runner in the game since the fourth. Rabin then was hit by a pitch to put two #B1GCats on board with nobody out. Lewis took care of the rest, pounding a full-count double over the head of the left fielder to end the game in walk-off fashion, 2-1.

RACHEL LEWIS WALK-OFF!!

The #B1GCats are headed to the @B1GSoftball semifinals today at 3:30 p.m. against Michigan State!

FINAL: NU 2, Iowa 1 pic.twitter.com/yHsUiqe5UB
— NorthwesternSoftball (@NUSBcats) May 12, 2018

Wilkey (18-5) threw all eight innings, allowing one run on three hits and four walks with eight strikeouts. At one point in the game, she retired 15 Hawkeyes in a row.

NU collected seven hits in the game against Doocy, one each for seven different Wildcats in the starting lineup.