March 9, 2008

Box Score

LAKEWOOD, Calif. -- No. 6 UCLA put two runs on the board in the bottom of the fourth inning before withstanding a late-inning rally from No. 8 Northwestern Sunday in a 2-0 loss for the Wildcats on getaway day at the Long Beach Invitational.

Northwestern's loss drops it to 12-6 on the season, while UCLA improves to 24-2 with its victory.

A pitchers' duel quickly developed in the game between Northwestern starter Lauren Delaney (Jefferson City, Mo./Helias) and UCLA's Donna Kerr (9-1). Northwestern notched the contest's first hit with a Kelly Dyer (Homer Glen, Ill./Lockport) two-out single in the second, and it took until the third inning for the Bruins to get their first hit. Freshman third baseman Robin Thompson (Detroit, Mich./Martin Luther King) made a phenomenal leaping catch of a liner in the second to help keep the Bruins off the base paths.

In the bottom of the third, UCLA got a one-out single, then sacrificed the runner over to second. The next batter chopped a single high over the head of a leaping Thompson at third and into left field. Sophomore Ashley Lafever (Bettendorf, Iowa/Pleasant Valley) charged the grounder then fired a bullet to the plate to nail the runner trying to score from second to end the inning.

Northwestern put a pair of runners on base courtesy of hit batters in the top of the fourth, with both Michelle Batts (Bloomingdale, Ill./Glenbard North) and Erin Dyer (Homer Glen, Ill./Lockport) taking one for the team. Batts was replaced at first by pinch runner Aly Euler (River Forest, Ill./Lockport), who stole second before Dyer was drilled. No runs came of the situation, however.

UCLA scored the game's first runs in the bottom of the fourth, turning a leadoff walk into two runs after a one-out home run to dead center.

Freshman Jordan Wheeler (Garden Grove, Calif./Los Alamitos) shot a one-out single into center for NU in the top of the sixth, then moved to second one out later on a passed ball. When a grounder to third by sophomore Nicole Pauly (Palatine, Ill./Palatine) was booted for an error, Wheeler headed over to third. Erin Dyer then was drilled by a Kerr pitch for the second time in the game to load the bases but the Wildcats' rally would end there.

The Bruins put runners at second and third with one out in the bottom of the sixth before Delaney kept NU close by earning a strikeout and a fly out to center to end the frame, but Northwestern was unable to mount a comeback in the seventh.

Delaney took the loss to drop to 10-4 on the season after giving up an earned run for just the second time in her last seven appearances. She pitched 6.0 innings, allowing two runs on five hits and four walks with six strikeouts.

Northwestern will take next weekend off for winter quarter finals, then returns to action March 21-22 at the Bank of Hawaii Invitational in Honolulu, Hawaii.