March 22, 2008

Box Score

HONOLULU -- California scored a run in the bottom of the first, then withstood several Northwestern rallies throughout the course of the game to defeat the Wildcats, 1-0, Saturday at the Bank of Hawaii Invitational.

The win snaps Northwestern's recent run of dominance over Cal, giving the Bears their first win over the Wildcats since 2004. NU now is 13-8 overall on the season, while California is 29-10 on the year with its win.

Junior Tammy Williams (Roscoe, Mo./Osceola) began the game by ripping the second offering from Cal starter Marissa Drewrey into right field for a single. She advanced to second on a sacrifice by freshman Jordan Wheeler (Garden Grove, Calif./Los Alamitos). Cal then intentionally walked freshman Michelle Batts (Bloomingdale, Ill./Glenbard North). A wild pitch advanced both runners up a bag, but Drewrey escape the frame unscathed.

In the bottom half of the inning, Cal got an infield single before a hard-hit ball to right fell in at the fence for a double. Wheeler picked it up and threw to Williams at the cutoff position, who turned and fired to Erin Dyer (Homer Glen, Ill./Lockport) at the plate to nail the runner for the second out of the inning. The batter advanced to third on the throw, then came home for the game's first run after a weak pop up toward right blew back in with the wind and fell in front of a diving Jessica Rigas (River Forest, Ill./Oak Park River Forest) for a base hit.

Northwestern got another rally going with back-to-back one-out infield singles by Williams and Wheeler in the top of the third, but a double-play grounder erased both to end the inning.

A leadoff pinch hit single into left by freshman Kelly Quinn (Northbrook, Ill./Glenbrook North) kicked off the top of the fifth for NU. Sophomore Ashley Lafever (Bettendorf, Iowa/Pleasant Valley) re-entered the game to run for Quinn, then moved to second one out later on Williams' third single of the game. A little slapping sacrifice from Wheeler pushed the runners up a base, then Drewrey loaded the bags with her second intentional walk of the game to Batts.

Sophomore Nicole Pauly (Palatine, Ill./Palatine) fought off four two-strike offerings from Drewery -- including one she cranked deep down the right-field line that landed inches foul -- before succumbing with a grounder to end the inning with NU still down a run.

In the top of the sixth, Rigas drew a one-out walk, then was replaced by freshman speedster Robin Thompson (Detroit, Mich./Martin Luther King). Three pitches into the at-bat, Thompson stole second, then scampered over to third when the California catcher threw the ball directly into the ground and into left field after Drewrey never got out of the throwing lane to second. Fooled by the terribleness of the throw, the home plate umpire called Kelly Dyer (Homer Glen, Ill./Lockport) out for batter's interference, despite the fact she swung and missed without ever leaving the batter's box. The call sent Thompson all the way back to first.

Now with two outs, Thompson stole second again, but the inning ended on a groundout to first.

Delaney made quick work of the Cal order in the bottom of the sixth, as she had all game long following the first inning. Delaney (11-5) pitched a complete game, allowing one run on four hits with no walks, three hit batters and 10 strikeouts.

Darcy Sengewald (Frankfort, Ill./Lincoln-Way East) led off the top of the seventh with a deep fly ball to center than the Cal fielder caught just steps from the fence for the first out of the frame. Williams then drew a five-pitch walk before Wheeler moved her over to second with a slap to shortstop. Drewery (17-5) then issued Batts her third intentional walk of the game. Pauly followed with a fly ball into right center field that was caught to end the game.

Williams finished the game 3-for-3 for NU at the plate.