Lauren Delaney has been a star in the pitcher's circle in her two years at Northwestern. Her 70 mile per hour fastball (that equates to an upper-90s fastball in baseball) and her development of off-speed pitches have transformed the Missouri-native into one of the best pitchers in the nation.
Delaney swept the Big Ten pitching awards with a 37-9 record and a 1.54 ERA on 444 strikeouts. She showed her mettle in a tough weekend series against DePaul in the NCAA Tournament Regionals.
The sophomore had a 39-inning scoreless streak snapped and blew a 2-0 lead in the first game against the Blue Demons, but came back strong in the 3-2 clincher, which pushed the Wildcats to the NCAA Super Regional against Arizona State in Tempe, Ariz. this weekend.
But as a freshman, her speed was what stood out.
It was what earned her the nickname, "Boom Boom".
"Our senior Katie Logan used to be playing around with her brother and they would say, 'Laney Boom Boom,'" Delaney said during an interview last year. "And my last name is Delaney, so she just kind of said that one day and it stuck."
She has more than lived up to her name with over 400 strikeouts this year to go with an impressive freshman outing. She went 19-2 with a 1.73 ERA, including winning her first 15 decisions, and struck out 190 batters.
Delaney became NU's go-to pitcher this year and has bounced back from a tough NCAA Tournament that saw her face only three batters and give up three walks in a devastating loss to Washington at the Women's College World Series.
She is more than making up for it this postseason and trying to propel the Cats to their third straight appearance in Oklahoma City.
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