No. 11 Northwestern Drops No. 19 DePaul, 6-0; Advances to Evanston Regional Title Game
May 17, 2008
EVANSTON, Ill. -- Sophomore Lauren Delaney (Jefferson City, Mo./Helias) continued to dominate the opposition Saturday at the NCAA Evanston Regional at Sharon J. Drysdale Field, running her current scoreless innings streak to 35 with a three-hit shutout of No. 19 DePaul to help No. 11 Northwestern to a 6-0 win in the Regional's winner's bracket game. Delaney fanned 11 and allowed three hits and one walk for her fifth-straight shutout, giving her 18 on the season. She now is 36-8 on the year. The last run she surrendered came in the third inning of a May 4 matchup with Michigan State in the final game of the regular season. With the win, Northwestern advances to Sunday's NCAA Evanston Regional championship game scheduled to begin at noon CT. The Wildcats will face DePaul (50-17), which advanced from Saturday's loser's bracket finale with a 6-0 win over Western Illinois. NU needs one win and DePaul needs two to advance to the Super Regional round of 16 next weekend. Northwestern now is 39-13 overall on the season with its win. While DePaul recorded a pair of early base hits against Delaney, neither team threatened to score through the first two innings. The Wildcats put the game's first rally together in the top of third, getting back-to-back leadoff singles from freshmen Kelly Quinn (Northbrook, Ill./Glenbrook North) and Robin Thompson (Detroit, Mich./Martin Luther King). A sacrifice bunt by senior Darcy Sengewald (Frankfort, Ill./Lincoln-Way East) moved both 'Cats up a bag, but Blue Demon hurler Becca Heteniak got a strikeout and pop up to keep the game scoreless.
In the top of the very next frame, freshman Michelle Batts (Bloomingdale, Ill./Glenbard North) worked an 0-2 count into a 3-2 count before ripping a leadoff double into the gap in left center. She was replaced at second by pinch runner Aly Euler (River Forest, Ill./Oak Park River Forest), who moved to third one out later on a passed ball. Junior Erin Dyer (Homer Glen, Ill./Lockport) then ripped a single over the bag at third to drive in Euler and give NU a 1-0 lead.
Sophomore Kelly Dyer (Homer Glen, Ill./Lockport) followed her sister with a solid single into left to put runners at first and second still with one out. Sophomore Ashley Lafever (Bettendorf, Iowa/Pleasant Valley) replaced Erin Dyer at second before both runners moved up on a Quinn groundout. The inning ended, however, when Lafever tried to score on a wild pitch that DePaul catcher Jackie Tarulli-Fisher did a great job of blocking down and keeping near her to catch Lafever in a rundown. After Delaney set the DePaul side down in order in the bottom of the fourth -- with a little help from Quinn in right field when the freshman tracked down a hard-hit ball in the gap -- Northwestern mounted another rally in the top of the fifth. Thompson led off with a sharp single through the left side of the infield, then stole second base. Sengewald laid down her second sacrifice of the day to move Thompson to third, then freshman Jordan Wheeler (Garden Grove, Calif./Los Alamitos) shot a single back up the middle to plate Thompson. With junior Tammy Williams (Roscoe, Mo./Osceola) now at the plate, Wheeler advanced to second on a wild pitch. Williams then sent a soaring ball deep to center field where it hit off the top of the fence for a triple, bringing in Wheeler to make NU's lead three, 3-0. The throw to third got away from the fielder, and Williams attempted to sprint home but was cut down at the plate for the second out of the frame. With the bases now clear, Batts drew a walk before sophomore Nicole Pauly (Palatine, Ill./Palatine) was hit by a pitch. Erin Dyer then stepped to the plate and clubbed the definition of a soaring, majestic home run into the bleachers in left field to blow the game wide open, 6-0. The blast was Dyer's 13th of the season and the 29th of her career, tying her with Batts for second on the team this season and with Pauly for fourth all-time at NU. DePaul replaced Heteniak (32-7) in the circle with Lindsey Dean to begin the sixth inning. The new Blue Demon hurler shut down the NU side the rest of the game without any further hits aside from a Williams seventh-inning bunt single. The loss was Heteniak's first in her last 14 decisions. Williams, Erin Dyer and Thompson all recorded two hits for NU, with Dyer driving in four runs. |
|
