May 20, 2006
EVANSTON, Ill. – Northwestern posted a four-run first inning to gain the momentum early and go on to defeat Notre Dame 9-0 during the second day of play at the NCAA Evanston Softball Regional at Sharon J. Drysdale Field on Saturday. The Fighting Irish will now play an elimination game versus either Southern Illinois or UC Santa Barbara this afternoon at 4:00 p.m. (CT).
The winner of the Notre Dame-Southern Illinois/UCSB contest advances to take on Northwestern tomorrow at noon. Due to the double-elimination format, a second game will be played if necessary at 2:30 p.m. on Sunday to determine the regional champion.
Northwestern now stands at 2-0 in the regional after taking down the Irish today and Southern Illinois, 4-0, yesterday, while the Irish are 1-1 following today’s loss and their 5-2 win over UCSB on Friday.
Senior Heather Booth took the ball today for Notre Dame and struggled as she allowed six runs on seven hits, while recording only three outs. Senior shortstop Sara Schoonaert collected half of the Notre Dame’s hits as she went 2-3.
The Wildcats recorded nine hits on the afternoon, with Erin Dyer leading the way with two hits and four RBI. Courtnay Foster picked up her 22nd win of the season for the Wildcats as she pitched all five innings. The game was called after five innings due to the eight-run rule.
GAME RECAP:
Northwestern (44-12), who was the visiting team in the contest, started out strong right out of the gate as Katie Logan led off the game with a single and was driven home two batters later on a Garland Cooper double to left field. Following a Jamie Dotson base hit and a walk issued to Sheila McCorkle, Dyer delivered a bases-clearing double deep to left-center field that Notre Dame left fielder Gessica Hufnagle could not quite get to.
Notre Dame (41-20) loaded the bases in the bottom half of the first, yet could not put a run on the board. Junior Stephanie Brown led off the frame with a single and then two-out walks were issued to Meagan Ruthrauff and Katie Laing before Linda Kohan struck out to end the threat.
The Wildcats notched two more scores in the second to make it a 6-0 contest. Booth, who collected the win in yesterday’s victory over UC Santa Barbara, was lifted from the game after giving up two singles and a double in the second inning and was replaced by freshman Brittney Bargar.
The Irish threatened again in their half of the second inning as freshman Erin Glasco led off with a single and later advanced to second base on a sacrifice bunt from classmate Stephanie Mola. Brown then sent a shot to deep center, yet was caught on the warning track to end the inning for the Irish.
Northwestern put up three unearned runs in the fourth inning to complete the scoring and post the 9-0 victory.
— ND —