FULLERTON, Calif. – Danielle Williams turned in an impressive one-hit shutout in her collegiate debut, while first-year Jordyn Rudd hit two home runs and drove in five runs as Northwestern turned in another dominant performance with a 7-0 victory over Pacific in the second game of their doubleheader to kick off the 2019 season.
 
Williams went 6.2 innings without allowing a hit before surrendering a double from Pacific, but remained in the game and struck out the final batter to preserve the second-consecutive shutout for the Wildcats. Williams finished with five strikeouts while walking just one batter.
 
The Wildcats have now opened the season with consecutive shutouts for the first time since 1985.
 
The 'Cats offense wasted no time getting started as first-year Nikki Cuchran drove in Rachel Lewis with a one-out single. On next at-bat, Rudd launched a three-run homer–the first of her career–to give the #B1GCats a 4-0 advantage after one inning.
 
The bats stayed hot to lead off the bottom of the second inning as senior Lily Novak hit a solo homer, her first of the season and second of her career, to extend the Wildcats' lead to 5-0.
 
Rudd did not slow down in her next at-bat as she drove in two more runs with her second homer of the game to put the 'Cats on top, 7-0. She is the first Wildcat to have a multi-homer game since Morgan Nelson did so against Ohio State on April 13, 2018.
 
Northwestern will be back in action at the Titan Classic tomorrow with two more games against Louisville at 2:30 p.m and Loyola Marymount at 5 p.m. Fans can watch on Flosoftball.com or follow along to @NUSBCats on Twitter for updates.
 

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