May 28, 2007

Northwestern's Women's College World Series Notes in PDF Format
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EVANSTON, Ill. -- In 2006, Northwestern made its first Women's College World Series appearance in 20 years, and the fans in Oklahoma City adopted the purple-clad Wildcats as their own, embracing NU as it made its run to its first-ever WCWS championship series.

Now, in 2007, the Wildcats are back for more in the city that made them feel so much at home a year ago. The No. 2 seed in the NCAA Tournament, Northwestern opens the World Series with a 2 p.m. CT game Thursday, May 31, against No. 7 seed Arizona State on ESPN.

Northwestern is making its fifth appearance in program history at the WCWS. The Wildcats' best performance was last year's 3-2 mark and second-place finish in the event.

NU also hopes to carry the torch for the Big Ten as the conference's lone entrant in the WCWS this year. A Big Ten program has advanced to the championship series in each of the last two years.

Northwestern's first-round opponent is a familiar one; the Wildcats and Sun Devils faced off at the Palm Springs Classic in Cathedral City, Calif., on Feb. 24 of this season, with Northwestern taking a 5-2 decision over ASU on the strength of a pair of Kelly Dyer (Homer Glen, Ill./Lockport) home runs -- including a seventh-inning grand slam.

This year's WCWS marks the first time in the event's 26-year history that a California team has not made it. With the qualification of Northwestern and DePaul into the eight-team field, 2007 also is the first time two Chicagoland teams have appeared in the same season.

The Wildcats breezed through their first two rounds held at Sharon J. Drysdale Field in Evanston, compiling a 5-0 record and outscoring their opponents 22-5. Senior Eileen Canney (Paradise, Calif./Paradise) pitched all 14 innings of the Super Regional against South Carolina, allowing only one run and four hits.

In addition to every game of the WCWS being on ESPN or ESPN2, Northwestern student-radio station WNUR 89.3 FM will broadcast live every NU World Series contest.

For Northwestern's complete Women's College World Series game notes, click on the .pdf at the top of this page.