No. 1 Alabama Comes Back to Down No. 11 Northwestern, 6-5 (8)
April 29, 2008
CHICAGO -- No. 11 Northwestern dominated its game against No. 1 Alabama for six innings Tuesday afternoon at DePaul's Cacciatore Field, but a pair of seventh-inning errors allowed the Crimson Tide to tie the game before going on to defeat NU, 6-5, in eight innings. The Wildcats pounded out nine hits in regulation while limiting the Tide to just four to carry a 4-2 advantage into the seventh frame. Northwestern now is 32-12 on the season, while Alabama improves to 47-3 with its win. Northwestern kicked off the scoring in spectacular fashion in the first inning. With one out junior Tammy Williams (Roscoe, Mo./Osceola) lined a double into the gap in right center, then sophomore Nicole Pauly (Palatine, Ill./Palatine) joined her on the base paths with a two-out walk. Junior Erin Dyer (Homer Glen, Ill./Lockport) then strode the plate and crushed a three-run home run into the left-field bleachers for a 3-0 NU lead. The blast was Dyer's 10th of the season, making her the fourth Wildcat to reach double-digit homers on the season. She now has 26 home runs for her career, tying her with Pauly for fourth place all-time at NU. The four-bagger also was only the second home run given up all year by Alabama starting pitcher Charlotte Morgan. The Crimson Tide fought back in the bottom half of the first against Wildcats' starter Lauren Delaney (Jefferson City, Mo./Helias), cutting the 'Cats' lead down to one, 3-2, on a one-out home run following a leadoff walk.
The Wildcats got one of those runs back with the game's third home run in the first three half innings. With two outs in the top of the second, senior Darcy Sengewald (Frankfort, Ill./Lincoln-Way East) smashed another Morgan offering into the bleachers to make the score 4-2. Sengewald's homer was her second of the year, and combined with Dyer's it doubled the total Morgan had given up entering Tuesday.
The ball-bashing party slowed down after Sengewald's blast, with both Delaney and Morgan holding the other offense in check. Alabama erased an NU runner in the top of the third with a double play, then Northwestern returned the favor on a nifty 6-3 twin-killing in the bottom of the fourth. Williams ranged to her left from her shortstop position to glove a hard-hit grounder headed for center, then sprinted to the bag before firing to first to end the frame. Dyer and her sister, sophomore Kelly Dyer (Homer Glen, Ill./Lockport), hit back-to-back infield singles with two out in the top of the sixth to give NU seven hits on the day, but no runs came from the knocks. After Delaney set the Alabama side down in order in the bottom of the sixth, NU got a two-out double in the top of the seventh from freshman Jordan Wheeler (Garden Grove, Calif./Los Alamitos), who then moved to third when a pickoff attempt at second ricocheted into right field. After an intentional walk to Williams, Alabama replaced Morgan in the circle with Kelsi Dunne (20-3), who ended the inning with a strikeout. Delaney fanned the first Alabama batter in the bottom of the seventh before an NU error put a runner at first. Another Wildcats' error put runners at first and second with one out before a single to right cut the lead to one, 4-3, and moved runners to second and third. Delaney then fought through several foul balls to notch her eighth strikeout of the game and the second out of the frame, but a perfect infield single from heralded slapper Brittany Rogers brought a run home to knot the score, 4-4, before another strikeout ended the inning and sent the game into extras. With international tiebreaker rules in effect, Northwestern sent pinch runner Ashley Lafever (Bettendorf, Iowa/Pleasant Valley) to second base to begin the eighth, with Pauly sacrificing her to third to begin the inning. Erin Dyer then laid down a nice bunt that ended up going for a single when the Alabama fielder was late to first, scoring Lafever and putting NU back into the lead, 5-4. After making the final out in the seventh, Jordan Praytor started the eighth at second for Alabama. The Tide immediately tied the game when the first batter pounded a ball so hard into the ground it bounced over Robin Thompson's (Detroit, Mich./Martin Luther King) head at third and down the line for an RBI double to knot the game again, 5-5. A wild pitch moved the Tide runner to third, then she scored on a dribbler back up the middle to end the game, 6-5. Delaney was the hard-luck loser, allowing six runs (three earned) on six hits and one walk with nine strikeouts, dropping to 29-8 on the year. Erin Dyer finished the game 3-for-4 with four RBIs, while Kelly Dyer had two hits. |
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