Northwestern Gives It All, Falls Just Short To No. 7 Georgia, 9-7

5/20/2018 2:18:00 PM | Softball

Box Score Postgame Quotes

ATHENS, Ga. – Multiple times Sunday in the NCAA Athens Regional championship round, Northwestern showed the fighting spirit is has displayed all season long, but one last late rally from No. 7 seed Georgia was too much to overcome in a 9-7 Wildcats loss.

Northwestern concludes the season with a 38-19 overall record, its best win total since going 40-16 in 2008. Georgia moves on to the Super Regional round of the NCAA Tournament with a record of 46-11.

The Wildcats made their seventh appearance in the Regional title game Sunday since the current format was instituted in 2005, and their first since 2014 at the Seattle Regional. With its two victories in Athens this weekend, NU now has 44 all-time NCAA Tournament victories with 32 coming under head coach Kate Drohan and associate head coach Caryl Drohan.

Sunday marked the final game for seven #B1GCats seniors: Renee Ariola, Nicole Bond, Abbey Boyd, Brooke Marquez, Sammy Nettling, Marissa Panko and Sabrina Rabin. The group combined for four NCAA Regional berths in their collective careers with two Regional championship game appearances. To put it bluntly, their leadership laid a new program foundation that has the Wildcats pointed firmly in the right direction on the never-ending #RoadToWCWS.

"The seniors' story will be told time and time again. I will say thank you them every chance I get."

The full #B1GCats press conference following today's #NCAASoftball Athens Regional championship game: pic.twitter.com/wHH0ZwU5SX
— NorthwesternSoftball (@NUSBcats) May 20, 2018

One night after crushing a game-tying double in the bottom of the seventh against California, first-year Rachel Lewis picked right back up in the top of the first Sunday with a smashed single against Georgia. That was the lone offense for the Wildcats in that inning, however.

Morgan Newport started for the fourth time in this Regional and worked a scoreless first, stranding a pair of Bulldogs on base with a lazy can of corn to Morgan Nelson in left center for the final out of the frame.

Georgia found the scoreboard in the bottom of the second, loading the bases on a walk and two infield singles with nobody out. Kenna Wilkey entered in relief of Newport at that point. The first Bulldog she faced singled to bring home a run followed by a sacrifice fly to center to make it a 2-0 game. Wilkey got two more flyouts from there to prevent the rally from growing any further.

Northwestern would not wait to rally on Championship Sunday. Both Brooke Marquez and Newport *earned* walks to start the top of the third before Lily Novak singled to load the bases with nobody out. Sabrina Rabin then slapped a single into left to plate pinch runner Abbey Boyd before Mac Dunlap, who had flexed into the lineup to run for Newport, scampered home on a wild pitch to tie the score. One out later, Morgan Nelson sent a *screamer* into left field for a two-run single to put Northwestern on top, 4-2.

Georgia scratched across one run in the bottom of the third to make it a 4-3 game before re-taking the lead in the fourth with a pair of two-run home runs to go in front 7-4.

There was still lots of fight left in the #B1GCats dog after the rally. Lewis ripped her second single of the game to start the fifth before Nelson walked, leading Georgia to replace its starting pitcher Mary Wilson Avant with Kylie Bass. The first pitch Bass threw was wild, leading both runners to move up a bag before, with two outs, Wilkey put a ball in play to third. The throw over skipped passed the first baseman, allowing both Lewis and Nelson to score to make it a one-run game against, 7-6.

Wilkey worked around a leadoff single in the bottom of the fifth, keeping Georgia off the board for the first time since the first frame with an inning-ending backward K. In the top of the sixth, Newport drew a leadoff walk and moved to second on a wild pitch. Novak sacrificed her to third, but a couple of outs in the air ended the inning with the Wildcats still down a run.

In the bottom of the sixth, the leadoff Bulldog doubled and Northwestern elected to intentionally walk the cleanup batter. A triple drove both of those runners in to re-stake Georgia to a three-run lead, 9-6, but Wilkey recovered to get three straight outs without letting that runner at third come home.

In the top of the seventh, the purple comeback potion so prevalent throughout the 2018 season had one drop left. Panko smashed a two-out solo home run over the wall in right center to make it a 9-7 game on her second-career homer. After that, the bottle ran dry.

NOT DONE YET! Down to the final out, Marissa Panko blasts a solo shot for @NUSBcats! Watch the finish now on ESPN! pic.twitter.com/OXdOVZSqtN
— NCAA Softball (@NCAAsoftball) May 20, 2018

Wilkey (20-7) took the loss in relief, throwing 5.0 innings and allowing seven runs on eight hits and four walks with two strikeouts. Newport went one-plus frame in the start, giving up two runs on two hits and three walks.

Lewis went 2-for-4 with two runs scored while Nelson had a pair of RBIs for NU at the plate.