Feb. 20, 2004

Box Score

PALM SPRINGS, Calif. - What a difference a start makes. The last time freshman pitcher Eileen Canney took the mound, she was on the wrong end of an 11-1 decision against the Kansas Jayhawks at the Arizona State Triangular. Almost two full weeks later, she was a different pitcher. Canney threw five and two-thirds innings of no-hit ball to lead Northwestern to a 4-2 win over No. 8 Stanford. She finished the game throwing six and two-thirds innings, allowing only four hits and two runs.

"Eileen was great today," said head coach Kate Drohan. "Outside of one at-bat, she was in complete control of that game."

Canney started strong, retiring the first 10 Stanford hitters in order. Katherine Hoffman reached on a walk and then stole second base on the first pitch to Catalina Morris but Canney stuck Morris out and finished off the inning when Lauren Lappin lined out to Carri Leto at second base.

Canney carried her no-hit bid into the sixth inning, where she had two outs facing leadoff hitter Jackie Rinehart. Rinehart made contact and the ball bounced directly in front of home plate and straight in the air toward shortstop Eryn Manahan. Rinehart barely beat the throw, ending Canney's no-hit attempt. Stanford's next hitter Katherine Hoffman slapped the ball to Kristen Amegin, who had no play on the speedy Hoffman.

In a matter of four pitches, Stanford went from being no-hit to having runners on first and second with their No. 3 hitter, Morris, at the plate. Morris delivered with a base-clearing double to give the Cardinal a 2-0 lead. Canney K'd Lappin to end the inning, but the 'Cats had two runs to make up with only six outs remaining. At that point, the Cardinal's two-run lead almost seemed insurmountable with Stanford pitcher Dana Sorensen rolling. Sorensen was dominant, racking up 10 strikeouts through six innings. At one point, struck out five straight.

However, after striking out Garland Cooper for the second time in the bottom of the sixth, the Wildcats went to work offensively. Erin Mobley drew a walk and four pitches later, Manahan hit a shot over the fence in left-center. Leto reached base with a single and Amegin struck the death blow five pitches later, blasting a home run over the right-center fence to give Northwestern a 4-2 lead. The Wildcats picked up all four runs with two outs in the inning.

Things got a bit interesting in the top of the seventh. After striking out Jessica Allister to start the inning, Meghan Sickler drew a walk. She was thrown out at second when Michelle Thiry reached on a fielder's choice. The Cardinal had two runners in scoring position when Leah Nelson hit a double to move Thiry to third. Drohan inserted Courtnay Foster, who had thrown a complete game earlier that day, to face Elizabeth Bendig. Foster fanned Bendig on a three-and-two count to end the game.

"I think we learned a few lessons today," Drohan said. "In (the Alabama game), we did not respond well to adversity. But we kept our composure (in the Stanford game) after falling behind and pulled out a big win."

Northwestern faces top-ranked UCLA Saturday at noon and then faces Boston College at 6 p.m.

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