Wildcats Blank Scarlet Knights, 8-0, in Home Opener

3/22/2019 8:27:00 PM | Softball

Box Score Box Score (PDF)

Evanston, Ill. – Playing at home for the first time this season, Northwestern kicked off Big Ten play in electrifying fashion with an 8-0 run-rule victory over Rutgers in five innings.

The Wildcats blasted three home runs, including a fourth-inning grand slam by Nikki Cuchran off the video board in center field, while Danielle Williams tossed her Big Ten-leading sixth shutout of the season to improve to 14-3 on the year.

As they have done so often, the #B1GCats wasted no time jumping out to an early lead as Rachel Lewis hit a lead-off home run on top of the New Welsh-Ryan Arena to give the 'Cats a 1-0 advantage. Lewis is just the seventh different Wildcat in the 37-year history of Sharon J. Drysdale Field to hit a homer on the roof of Welsh-Ryan Arena and the first since the arena's recent renovation. This was just the 10th "roof ball" in the park's history and first since Amy Letourneau did so on April 22, 2016.

This marks the second-straight game in which Lewis has homered in the Wildcats' very first at-bat. She has now homered in back-to-back games for the sixth time in her career and second time already this season, having also done so against North Dakota State and Montana at the Stanford Invitational.

Moments later, Maeve Nelson kept the fireworks going as she hit a line drive over the center field fence, her fifth long ball of the season, to extend Northwestern's lead to 2-0.

The Wildcats plated two more runs in the bottom of the third inning, starting with an RBI-double by Jordyn Rudd to bring home Emma Bartz, marking Rudd's team-leading 26th RBI of the season. With two outs, Lily Novak came through with a clutch single down the left field line to drive in Rudd and give the Wildcats' a 4-0 lead.

One inning later, Cuchran came through with another clutch piece of two-out hitting as she belted a grand slam to bring around Williams, Skyler Shellmyer and Maeve Nelson. This marked the first grand slam for Northwestern since Lewis hit one during a doubleheader at Illinois on March 17, 2018.

In the circle, Williams did not allow a hit through the game's first 3.0 innings and finished with just two hits allowed and four strikeouts over 5.0 scoreless innings. She now has 12 complete games on the year, tied for the most in the Big Ten, to go along with six shutouts, the most by any first-year pitcher in the nation. Williams also lowered her season ERA to 1.17 (16 ER/95.1 IP), which ranks first in the conference among all qualified pitchers.

Cuchran finished the game 2-for-3 with four RBI and a run scored, she leads the team with nine multi-hit games on the season. Maeve Nelson also turned in a multi-hit effort, going 2-for-3 with an RBI and two runs scored, and has now reached base in seven-straight games. Morgan Newport finished 1-for-3 and collected her sixth double (and ninth extra-base hit) of the season with a double in the first inning.

Friday's win was the first time Northwestern run-ruled and shut out an opponent in its home opener since 2008. Then-sophomore Lauren Delaney threw a five-inning no-hitter in a 10-0 win over Wisconsin.

Northwestern improves to 20-6 on the season. This is the fastest the #B1GCats have reached 20 wins in a season since 2007 in which they did so in 25 games. Chicago's Big Ten Team will be back in action on Saturday for game two against Rutgers. The game will be streamed live via BTN Plus on BTN2Go, with first pitch scheduled for 1 p.m CT.