‘Cats Remain Perfect in Big Ten Play with 6-2 Win at Iowa

Saturday, March 30

Iowa City, Iowa

1 p.m. CT

Northwestern

24-7, 0

Iowa

15-14, 0

Northwestern

Iowa Hawkeyes

‘Cats Remain Perfect in Big Ten Play with 6-2 Win at Iowa

3/30/2019 4:45:00 PM | Softball

Box Score Box Score (PDF)

IOWA CITY, Iowa – Northwestern never looked back after a strong first inning against Iowa and took a 6-2 decision in game two of the road series on Saturday afternoon to remain undefeated in conference play.

The Wildcats put up four runs in the first inning, keyed by four-straight hits to open the game, including a leadoff home run from Rachel Lewis and RBI-doubles from Nikki Cuchran and Lily Novak.

This marks the third time in the last seven games Lewis has homered in the Wildcats' first at-bat of the game. She now has a team-high nine homers on the season and is hitting .462 (12-for-26) with 11 runs scored, six RBI and five homers over her last seven games.

The 'Cats are 15-1 when they score in the first inning and 17-2 when they grab the first run. They have outscored their opponents 42-10 in the first frame through 31 games.

Kaley Winegarner made her fourth start of the season and turned in a sterling performance, throwing 4.1 innings and allowing just one run and three hits. She earned the win and improved to 3-1 on the season.

Kenna Wilkey was solid in relief, throwing 2.2 innings and striking out two while allowing just one run to seal the result. She navigated her way out of two crucial situations in both the fifth and sixth innings to help the Wildcats preserve their lead.

The 'Cats strung together multiple two-out hits to add two insurance runs in the top of the seventh inning. Maeve Nelson and Cuchran each singled, then Morgan Newport brought home Cuchran with an RBI-single up the middle. Moments later, Cuchran also came across to score after capitalizing on an errant throw from the catcher.

The #B1GCats boosted their overall record to 24-7, their best start since 2007, and maintained their perfect start to Big Ten play with a 5-0 mark.

First year Nikki Cuchran led the offense at the plate, going 3-for-4, her 11th multi-hit game of the season, with a team-high two RBI. Fellow first-year Maeve Nelson had the other multi-hit day for the 'Cats, going 2-for-3 and scoring two runs.

Chicago's Big Ten Team is now 2-0 in Iowa City and will look to secure the sweep tomorrow at noon CT.

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