No. 1 Seed Northwestern Wins Big Ten Tournament Title, 1-0
May 10, 2008
Big Ten Network Video EVANSTON, Ill. -- Sophomore Lauren Delaney (Jefferson City, Mo./Helias) fired her third-straight Big Ten Tournament shutout Saturday in the championship game against Iowa, making a fourth-inning Erin Dyer (Homer Glen, Ill./Lockport) solo home run stand up in a 1-0 victory for NU at Sharon J. Drysdale Field. Northwestern's Tournament championship is its first in the current incarnation of the event, which began in 1995. Ironically, it also will be its last for the foreseeable future after the conference coaches voted to extend the regular season next year and do away with the postseason tournament. Northwestern's win against Iowa was its first against the Hawkeyes in the Big Ten Tournament in eight tries. The Wildcats also won a Big Ten Tournament title in 1982, when it was used to determine what is now the regular-season championship. Delaney's win was monumental on several fronts: she moved to 34-8 on the season to break the Northwestern single-season wins record held by All-Americans Lisa Ishikawa (1984) and Eileen Canney (2007). She gave up two hits and three walks with nine strikeouts to record her third shutout of the event, earning Tournament MVP honors. Delaney began hitting milestones with the first batter she faced Saturday. She fanned Iowa leadoff batter Chelsey Carmody to begin the game, giving her 400 strikeouts for the season. Delaney is the second Wildcat pitcher ever to reach that mark, joining All-American Lisa Ishikawa's 469-whiff effort in 1984 -- a performance which stood as the NCAA's single-season record for nearly a decade.
Delaney and Iowa pitcher Brittany Weil put on a show for the assembled masses in the first three innings, with both pitchers not allowing a hit while fanning four and walking two each for the only base runners of the early going. With two outs in the bottom of the second (Iowa was the home team, Northwestern the visitors for the championship game), Iowa's first runner of the contest was gunned down attempting to steal second by NU catcher Erin Dyer. With two outs in the top of the fourth, Dyer showed her bat is just as powerful as her arm. The junior battled through a nine-pitch at-bat with Weil, fouling off four pitches before launching a soaring drive off the stairwell attached to Welsh-Ryan Arena to give Northwestern a 1-0 lead on the game's first base hit. The home run was Dyer's 12th of the season to tie her for second on the club, while it gave her 28 for her career, good for fourth in school history. Iowa answered with a threat against Delaney in the bottom of the fourth. A leadoff bunt single followed later by a hit by pitch put runners at first and second with one out. The second out of the frame came on a fly ball to Kelly Dyer (Homer Glen, Ill./Lockport) in center, but the throw back to the infield was mishandled for an error, allowing both runners to move up a bag. Delaney ended the rally right there, fanning the next batter for strikeout number five in the game. Northwestern nearly added another tally to its total in the top of the sixth, but a spectacular Iowa defensive play kept the Wildcats' advantage at one. With one out, sophomore Nicole Pauly (Palatine, Ill./Palatine) ripped a single through the left side of the infield before moving to second on a sacrifice bunt by Erin Dyer. Kelly Dyer then absolutely roped a shot to left field that was destined to hit the top of the fence on the fly, but Iowa left fielder Lindsey Digmann drop stepped, raced to the fence and made a lunging catch before crashing into the barrier to end the inning with no NU runs across. Delaney continued to just dominate the Hawkeye lineup as she had dominated her competition all Tournament long. She fanned the final two batters of the sixth inning after a leadoff single and a sacrifice put a runner at second, then she got a strikeout and two groundouts to set the Hawkeyes down in order in the seventh. In addition to Delaney, freshman Michelle Batts (Bloomingdale, Ill./Glenbard North), freshman Kelly Quinn (Northbrook, Ill./Glenbrook North) and Erin Dyer were named to the All-Tournament team.
Northwestern now awaits the NCAA Tournament selection show scheduled to be broadcast live at 9 p.m. CT tomorrow night, Sunday, May 11, on ESPNU to find out its fate in the 64-team bracket. After the show, ESPNNews will have a bracket recap show.
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