It is a beautiful day at Sharon J. Drysdale Field. The typical 40 degree playoff weather has given way to a beautiful 70 degree day. The unusual May weather may take the Wildcats out of their usual routine. The lineups are being introduced as Northwestern prepares to take on Western Illinois.
A little bit about Western Illinois: the Westerwinds are 14-31 and made the tournament by winning the Summit League tournament title. Western Illinois has two good hitters in Collen Biebel (.314 batting average) and Smantha Valentine (.420 average). Lor Pankratz is in the circle. She has a 8-12 record and a 3.30 ERA.
The Cats defeated the Westerwinds 8-0 in five innings March 2. Things may not be much different this time around.
First Inning: Lauren Delaney gets three strikeouts, but the Cats go down quietly. NU has not gotten off to good starts lately. The second time around has been the big innings for the team. Good early news though, both Tammy Williams and Michelle Batts hit the ball out deep to right field. Could be a sign of things to come...
Second Inning: ... and how about now. Nicole Pauly takes the second pitch of the inning over the left-center field wall for her team-leading 14th home run and NU goes ahead 1-0. It at least guarantees Western Illinois is going to have to get one run off of the Big Ten pitcher of the year. Delaney has a 1.57 ERA this year, so the Westerwinds have their work cut out for them.
In other news, Kelly Quinn fouls a pitch down the first base line and hits associate head coach Caryl Drohan. She is OK though as Western Illinois contains the damage.
Third Inning: for those who are curious what is a Westerwind... no one is quite sure. But those even more curious will find that Western Illinois is not always the Westerwinds. The men's teams are the Leathernecks and all the women's teams are Westerwinds. There is your aha moment of the day.
Other fun tidbits found on Wikipedia. The school got special permission from the Marines to use their bulldog logo. Not quite Oregon getting permission from Disney to use Donald Duck.
Oh, Delaney got three more strikeouts in that inning bringing her total to seven in three innings.
Fourth Inning: Michelle Batts decided to join the party too. The freshman lined an easy swing over the left-center field wall for a 2-0 lead. NU has a pair of solo home runs... make that three as Pauly hits her second of the day, this one to right field, following Batts' blast. Three solo shots give the Cats a three-run lead. That may be enough with the way Delaney is pitching.
Fifth Inning: the NU outfield gives a rousing rendition of Y-M-C-A as the team digs in for an important fifth inning. The Westerwinds look like they might be making a pitching change and the bats are starting to come alive. The pitching and defense could decide whether this game continues much further.
And Delaney did not start it off well. Her first pitch hits Michelle Neubauer in the mask of her helmet and she takes her base. But Western Illinois cannot get any consistent hitting against NU's hurler. The Westerwinds are having difficulties getting bunts down in fair territory to move the runners they do get and nothing is leaving the infield. The sophomore added two more strikeouts this inning, bringing her total to 11.
Batts adds two more on the board with a two-RBI double and the rout appears to be on with Erin Dyer at the plate and runners at first and second.
Erin nearly ends the game with a three-run blast, but the left fielder catches it at the wall. Let's see what her sister can do...
Kelly does not do too bad. She lines one into center field and plates one to bring the lead to six.
Sixth Inning: Western Illinois may have found its key to success. Colleen Biebel leads off the inning with a passed ball strikeout. It really is a win-win situation. Delaney gets her strikeout and the Westerwinds get the satisfaction of putting a runner on base.
Western Illinois threatens by putting its leadoff hitters on first and second, but NU turns a rare double play to get out of the inning with the shutout still intact.
Tammy Williams continues to struggle this postseason. She is 0-for-4 with a run (reaching on a fielder's choice). The Top-10 finalist for the national player of the year is really struggling this postseason. Her average dipped dramatically from the .480s to the .460s during the Big Ten tournament and her performance today is not helping much either.
Seventh Inning: Delaney sits Western Illinois quickly with two strikeouts in the seventh and NU moves on in the winner's brackets.
Delaney struck out 14 batters and gave up just one hit in earning her fourth straight postseason shutout. Michelle Batts went 2-for-3 with three RBIs and Nicole Pauly was 2-for-2 with two solo home runs.
NU moves on to play rival DePaul, who defeated Drake earlier in the day, tomorrow at 11 a.m.
The Cats were focused completely on themselves after the game as they prepare for a rematch with the Blue Demons. DePaul defeated NU 5-3 in five innings April 29. The game was shortened by darkness. Neither team pitched their aces.
"For a team, I think its just playing good softball how we know, like we have always done," Batts said. "I think that we're our own worst enemies. If we just relax and take care of business, it will be easy."
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