Northwestern University Athletics
Series Wrap Up: 'Cats Sweep Boilermakers
4/18/2022 1:32:00 PM | Softball
EVANSTON, Ill. - Northwestern swept a three-game series against Purdue this weekend at Sharon J. Drysdale Field, outscoring the Boilermakers 34-5 in three-straight run-rule victories. The 'Cats are now 30-6 on the season and 11-1 in conference play, winning 20 of their last 22 games.
Standout Performances
- Rachel Lewis became the program's all-time home run leader on Friday, hitting two home runs to break Tammy Williams' (2006-09) record that stood for 13 years
- Lewis scored a run in all 10 of her plate appearances over the weekend. She hit .833 (5-of-6) with 4 of her 5 hits being home runs and drove in 9 RBI over the weekend, tied for the most on the team.
- Lewis homered in four of her last five at-bats over the weekend. Friday and Saturday were the sixth and seventh multi-home run games of her career and first back-to-back multi-homer games of her career.
- She was intentionally walked by Purdue all three times she stepped to the plate on Sunday and subsequently scored three runs and stole two bases. Lewis is tied for sixth in the conference and tied with Maeve Nelson for the team lead at 26 walks this season. She ranks third in program history with 148 career walks, 10 behind Garland Cooper's 158 walks for second place, and has ten more walks than strikeouts this season.
- Lewis has a career-high 18 home runs this season, third most in a single season in program history. She is one home run behind Adrienne Monka's 2009 total of 19 for second place, five short of Garland Cooper's program record of 23 home runs in 2007, and six shy of 24 homers, the Big Ten single season record.
- Lewis is the fourth player in Big Ten history to reach 60 career home runs. She is three home runs away from moving in to sole possession of second place in the Big Ten home run record book
- Maeve Nelson drove in a career-high eight RBI in Sunday's 10-2 run-rule victory over Purdue, going 3-for-3 with two home runs. Her RBI tied the single-game program record, making her the fifth different Wildcat in program history to reach the feat (also done twice by Amy Letourneau in 2016, Kelly Dyer in 2009, Tammy Williams in 2008 and Erin Dyer in 2006).
- Since the start of the Michigan series on April 1, Nelson is hitting .448 (13-for-29) with four home runs and 17 RBI in 10 games.
- Hannah Cady recorded a hit in her first five at-bats of the weekend and finished the series hitting .667 (6-for-9) with a home run and six RBI.
- Drove in a career-high five RBI in Friday's win over Purdue.
- Drove in a career-high five RBI in Friday's win over Purdue.
- Danielle Williams struck out 17 batters in just 9.0 innings pitched over the weekend.
- Williams leads the Big Ten with a 1.40 ERA, 213 strikeouts (tied), 18 wins, and 11 saves in 140.0 IP.
- Her 213 strikeouts are seventh-best in the country.
Looking Ahead
- As a team, Northwestern hit .486 (34-for-70) over the weekend series vs. Purdue, homering eight times while also drawing 11 walks for a cumulative .560 on-base percentage as a team.
- Four Wildcats have not hit over .330 in the same season since 2015, but Jordyn Rudd (.381), Rachel Lewis (.370), Skyler Shellmyer (.367) and Nikki Cuchran (.361) are all on pace to reach that mark.
- The 'Cats are back in action on Wednesday with a double-header at Illinois, which was rescheduled after a rainout last week.
Players Mentioned
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P/U
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