Wednesday, May 2
Chicago, IL
4 p.m. CT
Northwestern
33-14
7
at
3
DePaul
30-15
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
R
H
E
Northwestern
0
0
0
0
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7
12
3
DePaul
0
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1
0
3
6
0
Photo by: S. J. Carrera, Inc.
Wildcats Beat Lightning, Blue Demons, 7-3
5/2/2018 7:05:00 PM | Softball
CHICAGO – Northwestern outlasted an hour-long lightning delay Wednesday afternoon/evening to earn a 7-3 victory over DePaul at Cacciatore Stadium, breaking a 12-year-old piece of history in the process.
Northwestern now is 33-14 overall on the season. DePaul is 30-15.
The Wildcats now travel to Wisconsin for a May 4-6 series to conclude the Big Ten schedule. First pitch Friday is at 5 p.m. CT while both Saturday and Sunday start at noon. All games will be streamed live on BTN Plus on BTN2Go.
The home team had won every game in this series dating to a Northwestern doubleheader sweep of DePaul in Lincoln Park all the way back in 2006. Both programs have had ebbs and flows, World Series years and conference titles in the intervening 12 years, but not until Wednesday did the Wildcats break through against the inertia of home field advantage in this series.
While NU starter Morgan Newport danced in and around the DePaul lineup in the early going, the Blue Demons' starting pitcher Kennedy Garcia allowed only a Sammy Nettling walk in the first trip through the Northwestern order. DePaul elected to lift her in a likely planned moved before Newport batted in the nine spot in the top of the third. Pat Moore entered the circle for the Blue Demons and gave up an infield single to Sabrina Rabin, but nothing more.
Before the bottom of the third could begin, the lightning detection system at the field went off as a nasty fast-moving system sped through the area. For an hour and five minutes, play was delayed before resuming at 5:45 p.m.
DePaul immediately scored a pair of runs in the bottom of the third on two hits and a Wildcats error to take a 2-0 advantage against NU starter Newport. In the next half inning, Morgan Nelson and Sammy Nettling led off with back-to-back sharp singles before Marissa Panko sacrificed both up a bag. After a strikeout, Kenna Wilkey just got under a fly to deep right that ended up being caught to end the inning.
In the top of the fifth, Newport ripped a one-out single and gave way to pinch runner Abbey Boyd. Later, with two outs, DePaul shuffled personnel in the circle again, with Missy Zoch entering the game. This time, Northwestern was ready! On the very first pitch, Rachel Lewis plowed a single into left field before Nelson plowed a line drive into left herself…and OVER THE FENCE! The three-run lightning bolt from Nelson flipped the script and pushed NU into the lead, 3-2, on her 13th home run of the season and 23rd for her career.
Wilkey entered the circle in relief in the bottom of the fifth and allowed only a two-out infield single during a shutdown inning of #B1GCats defense before the #B1GBats offense got heated up again in the sixth. Marissa Panko started the inning with a single into center before racing all the way around to score on a Wilkey double. Pinch runner Emma Bartz entered to run at second, and she scored when Brooke Marquez sent a single back through the middle to make NU's lead three, 5-2.
The rally continued with a Newport infield single that pushed Marquez to third before Rabin brought Marquez home with an RBI groundout. Nelson then ripped her third hit of the game back through the middle to knock in another run, making it a 7-2 contest.
DePaul added another unearned run in the bottom of the sixth, but that was all the closer it would get.
Newport (12-6) got the win in the contest, going 4.0 innings in the start and allowing two runs (one earned) on four hits and two walks with three strikeouts. Wilkey notched her third save of the season with 3.0 innings of relief, allowing one unearned run on two hits and a walk with two Ks.
Nelson led NU at the plate with a 3-for-4 day, driving in four runs. Wilkey and Newport each added two hits apiece.
Northwestern now is 33-14 overall on the season. DePaul is 30-15.
The Wildcats now travel to Wisconsin for a May 4-6 series to conclude the Big Ten schedule. First pitch Friday is at 5 p.m. CT while both Saturday and Sunday start at noon. All games will be streamed live on BTN Plus on BTN2Go.
The home team had won every game in this series dating to a Northwestern doubleheader sweep of DePaul in Lincoln Park all the way back in 2006. Both programs have had ebbs and flows, World Series years and conference titles in the intervening 12 years, but not until Wednesday did the Wildcats break through against the inertia of home field advantage in this series.
While NU starter Morgan Newport danced in and around the DePaul lineup in the early going, the Blue Demons' starting pitcher Kennedy Garcia allowed only a Sammy Nettling walk in the first trip through the Northwestern order. DePaul elected to lift her in a likely planned moved before Newport batted in the nine spot in the top of the third. Pat Moore entered the circle for the Blue Demons and gave up an infield single to Sabrina Rabin, but nothing more.
Before the bottom of the third could begin, the lightning detection system at the field went off as a nasty fast-moving system sped through the area. For an hour and five minutes, play was delayed before resuming at 5:45 p.m.
DePaul immediately scored a pair of runs in the bottom of the third on two hits and a Wildcats error to take a 2-0 advantage against NU starter Newport. In the next half inning, Morgan Nelson and Sammy Nettling led off with back-to-back sharp singles before Marissa Panko sacrificed both up a bag. After a strikeout, Kenna Wilkey just got under a fly to deep right that ended up being caught to end the inning.
In the top of the fifth, Newport ripped a one-out single and gave way to pinch runner Abbey Boyd. Later, with two outs, DePaul shuffled personnel in the circle again, with Missy Zoch entering the game. This time, Northwestern was ready! On the very first pitch, Rachel Lewis plowed a single into left field before Nelson plowed a line drive into left herself…and OVER THE FENCE! The three-run lightning bolt from Nelson flipped the script and pushed NU into the lead, 3-2, on her 13th home run of the season and 23rd for her career.
Wilkey entered the circle in relief in the bottom of the fifth and allowed only a two-out infield single during a shutdown inning of #B1GCats defense before the #B1GBats offense got heated up again in the sixth. Marissa Panko started the inning with a single into center before racing all the way around to score on a Wilkey double. Pinch runner Emma Bartz entered to run at second, and she scored when Brooke Marquez sent a single back through the middle to make NU's lead three, 5-2.
The rally continued with a Newport infield single that pushed Marquez to third before Rabin brought Marquez home with an RBI groundout. Nelson then ripped her third hit of the game back through the middle to knock in another run, making it a 7-2 contest.
DePaul added another unearned run in the bottom of the sixth, but that was all the closer it would get.
Newport (12-6) got the win in the contest, going 4.0 innings in the start and allowing two runs (one earned) on four hits and two walks with three strikeouts. Wilkey notched her third save of the season with 3.0 innings of relief, allowing one unearned run on two hits and a walk with two Ks.
Nelson led NU at the plate with a 3-for-4 day, driving in four runs. Wilkey and Newport each added two hits apiece.
••••••
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Team Stats
Pitching:
W: Newport, Morgan (12-6)
L: MISSY ZOCH (13-5)
S: Wilkey, Kenna (3)
Batting:
2B: Wilkey, Kenna 1
HR: Nelson, Morgan 1
RBI: Rabin, Sabrina 1 ; Nelson, Morgan 4 ; Wilkey, Kenna 1 ; Marquez, Brooke 1
SH: Panko, Marissa 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Lewis, Rachel 1 ; Nelson, Morgan 1 ; Panko, Marissa 1 ; Bartz, Emma 1 ; Marquez, Brooke 1 ; Newport, Morgan 1 ; Boyd, Abbey 1
SB: Lewis, Rachel 1 ; Nelson, Morgan 1
HBP: Lewis, Rachel 1
Batting:
2B: KATE POLUCHA 1 ; ANGELA SCALZITTI 1
RBI: MEGAN LEYVA 1
SF: MEGAN LEYVA 1
Base Running:
RUNS: KATE POLUCHA 1 ; MARANDA GUTIERREZ 1 ; SKYLOR HILGER 1
SB: MEGAN LEYVA 1 ; MARANDA GUTIERREZ 1 ; ALYSIA RODRIGUEZ 1
CS: ANGELA SCALZITTI 1
Game Leaders
Hitting
AB
4
R
1
H
3
RBI
4
dp/p
AB
4
R
0
H
2
RBI
1
p/dp
AB
3
R
1
H
2
RBI
0
AB
4
R
0
H
1
RBI
1
Players Mentioned
OF
/ Softball
OF
/ Softball
IF/OF
/ Softball
IF
/ SoftballIF/C
/ Softball
C
/ SoftballP/U
/ Softball
IF/OF
/ SoftballOF
/ SoftballP
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