'Cats Come Back, Walk-Off Against South Carolina, 5-3
May 21, 2004
TUCSON, Ariz. - These 'Cats have heart. Staring elimination at the hands of fourth-seeded South Carolina in the face, Northwestern mounted a seventh-inning comeback before walking off in the eighth frame with a 5-3 victory. Northwestern moves on to face No. 9 Louisiana-Lafayette, the fifth seed in the Arizona Regional, at 4 p.m. CDT Saturday. The game will be televised live on CSTV. With the Wildcats trailing 3-1 in the bottom of the seventh, senior Eryn Manahan led off with a single to shortstop and scored on a Jamie Dotson double to cut the lead to 3-2. Ashley Crane replaced Dotson on the basepaths. Senior J.C. Kira then drilled a liner, but it was right at the Gamecocks' second baseman for the inning's first out. After Jessica Miller drew a walk, both runners advanced on a throwing error by the South Carolina catcher. Senior Carri Leto -- riding a 17-game hitting streak and currently 0-3 in the game -- then stepped to the plate with two outs and served a game-tying single into left field with a two-strike count. "Carri Leto has more fight than any player I have ever coached," Northwestern head coach Kate Drohan said.
With the score knotted at 3-3, pitcher Eileen Canney held South Carolina without a base runner in the top of the eighth inning. Canney pitched six shutout innings in relief of NU starter Courtnay Foster, allowing only three hits and striking out five to up her record to 19-4.
Freshman Garland Cooper led off the bottom of the eighth with a sharp single to right field, bringing sophomore Kristen Amegin to the plate. Against Minnesota last weekend in the Big Ten Tournament, Amegin hit a game-winning, walk-off home run in extra innings for Northwestern. She would do it again versus South Carolina, blasting a mammoth shot deep into the night over the center field fence to give NU the 5-3 victory. "This team never quits," Drohan said. "They believe they can get out of any jam and that is what they did tonight." With the win, NU registers its first two-win performance in the NCAA Tournament since 2000. The Wildcats' overall record improves to 34-19. Melanie Henkes (9-8) took the loss for South Carolina, which was ranked as high as 15th in the country in the NFCA/USA Today Top 25 this season. McKenna Hughes gave the Gamecocks (28-24) the early advantage with a two-run home run over the center field wall in the top of the first. South Carolina added another run in the second when Aleca Johnson struck out but reached on a wild pitch, then scored after a Wildcat throwing error to make the lead 3-0. With only one hit entering the bottom of the fourth, Northwestern found another way to threaten. Cooper and Amegin both forced throwing errors from Gamecocks' starter Stacey Johnson, putting runners on second and third with no outs. Sheila McCorkle, pinch-running for Cooper, scored on a Manahan groundout to cut the score to 3-1, but that would be all NU would get in the inning. |
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