No. 12 Northwestern Wins 14-Inning Marathon at Penn State, 1-0
April 25, 2008
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. -- At one point from the sixth to the 12th innings during Friday evening's 14-inning marathon at Penn State, No. 12 Northwestern's starter Lauren Delaney (Jefferson City, Mo./Helias) threw a perfect game, retiring 21 batters in a row. The Wildcats finally found the scoreboard for their ace in the 14th inning to defeat the Nittany Lions, 1-0. The win improves Northwestern to 30-10 overall on the season and 14-1 in Big Ten play. Penn State falls to 32-18 with its loss, 5-8 in the conference. The game was Northwestern's longest since an 18-inning, 4-3 victory for NU over Minnesota on April 23, 2006. In that game, former Wildcat hurler Eileen Canney tied the NCAA Division I single-game record for strikeouts with 28. Penn State put the game's first threat together in the bottom of the first, getting runners to second and third with one out on an NU error and a double into left center. Delaney then coaxed a shallow pop out to center and a comebacker to herself to end the frame with no damage done. Delaney and Penn State starter Ashley Esparza (14-11) settled into a pitcher's duel from the start, with both teams putting together more meager rallies after the first but not getting another runner to third through the first five innings. The Nittany Lions put two runners on base in the second with hit by pitches and in the fifth on an NU error and a walk, but Delaney ended both frames with strikeouts.
The Wildcats got runners to second in the third when freshman Robin Thompson (Detroit, Mich./Martin Luther King) was hit by a pitch and stole second, and in the fourth when junior Tammy Williams (Roscoe, Mo./Osceola) slapped a double into left but Northwestern could not get its runners any further either.
Penn State put its leadoff batter on base in the bottom of the sixth with its second base hit of the game, but Northwestern twice erased the lead runner on infield ground balls to hold the Nittany Lion attack in check. Delaney and Esparza continued to cruise into the extra frames, with NU getting a two-out single in the top of the eighth from freshman Kelly Quinn (Northbrook, Ill./Glenbrook North) before Esparza got a fly out to medium-deep center to end NU's turn at the bat. Delaney then set down the PSU order in order in the bottom half of the inning. Freshman Jordan Wheeler (Garden Grove, Calif./Los Alamitos) led off the top of the ninth with a flare single into left. Two outs later, sophomore Nicole Pauly (Palatine, Ill./Palatine) drew a full-count walk to move Wheeler to second, but again the inning ended there with no runs across. After neither team put a runner on in the ninth, sophomore Emily Haug (Jefferson City, Mo./Helias) was hit by a pitch with one out in the 10th. She was replaced by a pinch runner for the second time in the game, with sophomore Ashley Lafever (Bettendorf, Iowa/Pleasant Valley) doing the honors, but a fielder's choice grounder erased her at second before Esparza got another ground out to end the inning. Delaney continued to get stronger as the game moved along, striking out the side in the bottom of the 10th before setting PSU down in order in the 11th to retire her 18th-consecutive batter faced since the sixth inning. With one out in the top of the 12th, junior Erin Dyer (Homer Glen, Ill./Lockport) reached after an infield single on a sharp ground ball to short. She then moved to second on a sacrifice bunt by her sister, sophomore Kelly Dyer (Homer Glen, Ill./Lockport), before Esparza got a pop up to end the inning. Delaney set the side down in order again in the bottom of the 12th to run her consecutive-batters retired streak to 21 -- basically throwing a perfect game during the middle portion of the marathon affair. The streak ended in the bottom of the 13th when the leadoff Nittany Lion got a single, then she was sacrificed to second base. A walk to the next batter put the force play at third back into the mix. The following Lion lofted a soft liner behind the bag at second that the shortstop Williams nearly caught with a spectacular dive, but instead she trapped it and touched second for out number two, with the winning run moving to third. A pinch hitter then lined a ball that was destined for left field before a leaping Williams gloved it to send the game to the 14th. After saving the game defensively, Williams led off the top of the next frame with a double down the line in left, her second two-bagger of the contest. Freshman Michelle Batts (Bloomingdale, Ill./Glenbard North) then launched a deep double all the way to the track in center to score Williams and put the game's first run on the board. The first Nittany Lion to the plate in the bottom of the frame lined a single off Delaney's glove and into center for a base knock. The next batter sacrificed the runner to second before Delaney notched out No. 2 in the inning with her 17th strikeout of the game, matching her career single game high set earlier this year in a seven-inning no-hitter against Oregon on February 22. She then broke that mark with whiff No. 18 to end the game and give NU the 1-0, marathon victory. Delaney went all 14 innings, allowing four hits and three walks with two hit batters and 18 strikeouts. She now is 27-6 on the season and a perfect 14-0 in Big Ten play, and she now has 13 shutouts on the year. Williams led NU at the plate with two doubles. Northwestern returns to action at 11 a.m. CT tomorrow, Saturday, April 26, in the second game of its series at Penn State. |
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