Saturday at the Palm Springs Classic in Cathedral City, Calif., No. 2 Northwestern fell behind early in both of the night’s games. The Wildcats rebounded, though, clawing their way back with rallies highlighted by a three-run home run in both games.
Against No. 6 LSU, the Cats gained a 1-0 advantage in the bottom of the first inning. The teams traded runs through the next four innings; NU scored its runs on a Michelle Batts solo homerun and a Jessica Rigas sacrifice fly, but the Tigers had a 4-3 advantage going into the sixth inning.
With two outs in the bottom half of the frame, leadoff hitter Darcy Sengewald drew a two-out walk and Tammy Williams was hit by a pitch. With two runners on base, Nicole Pauly cracked a three-run home run to deep left field.
Pauly finished the game with two hits, three RBIs and two runs scored. It was Pauly’s 18th career home run.
Lauren Delaney went the distance, closing out the game with a strikeout, to record her fifth win of the season. Delaney allowed three earned runs on seven hits while striking out 12 Tigers.
NU moved to 6-1 on the season with the win and LSU fell to 9-2.
Later Saturday night the Cats started the second half of its double header against No. 25 Texas at 9:50pm. NU fell behind 4-0 in the middle of the fourth inning when starter Jessica Smith allowed a home run, a walk, two singles and a suicide squeeze bunt. Coach Kate Drohan opted to remove the freshman from the circle for Lauren Delaney.
Delaney halted the Longhorns potent offense for the remainder of the game while the Cats offense went to work. In the bottom half of the fourth, Batts singled to center, Erin Dyer drew a walk and Kelly Dyer smashed a three run home run to right field.
After NU was held scoreless in the fifth, Batts blasted a homerun to tie the game at 4-4. The home run was Batts third of the season.
With a tie game, Texas threatened in the top half of the final frame, but Delaney stranded a runner on third base.
Sengewald reached base in the seventh on a fielders choice, following a leadoff walk by freshman pinch hitter Kelly Quinn. Again, Williams was hit by a pitch, and a wild pitch moved the runners up to second and third with one out. Instead of opting to pitch around Pauly, creating a force at any base, the Longhorns opted to pitch to the sophomore. Pauly responded by hitting a deep fly ball to right field that scored Sengewald, and on the sac-fly the Cats won 5-4.
In just over three innings of relief work, Delaney registered her sixth win of the season. Delaney allowed only one hit and struck out seven.
With the win, NU improved its record to an impressive 7-1 while Texas dropped to 7-4-1. It was Texas’ Meagan Denny who recorded her first loss of the season; her record is now 6-1.
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