Softball: New Rankings Released

After defeating Texas A&M and Arizona in a 4-0 opening weekend of the season, Northwestern jumped from its No. 7 ranking all the way to No. 2 in the USA Today/NFCA Coaches' Poll and No. 3 in the ESPN/USA Softball Rankings. The Wildcats received the school's only first place votes in any poll in program history after the Kajikawa Classic in Tempe, Az. 

The Cats cooled down this weekend with a 3-2 performance at the Palm Springs Classic in Cathedral City, Calif., after suffering an upset loss to San Diego State and 6-2 loss to No. 11 UCLA. As a result, NU has shifted places in the national polls. 

In the ESPN/USA Softball Collegiate Top 25, NU is ranked fifth, behind Alabama, Arizona State, Texas A&M and UCLA. 

In the USA Today/NFCA Coaches' Poll Top 25, the Cats are ranked sixth, behind Alabama, Texas A&M, Arizona State, Tennessee and Florida. 

The only team in either poll that ranks ahead of the Cats (7-2) that the team has already faced and defeated is Texas A&M(16-2), who received one first place vote in each poll. 

In order to boost their ranking back amongst the top three teams in the country, NU hopes to defeat Kansas, Bradley, Western Illinois and Southern Illinois at the Coach B Classic this weekend. 

Softball: Cats finish 3-2 at Palm Springs Classic

No. 2 Northwestern put its 7-1 record on the line in its final contest at the Palm Springs Classic in sunny Cathedral City, Calif., against No. 11 UCLA. The Bruins (13-1) behind ace Anjelica Selden fell behind early 2-0, but scrapped their way back to a 6-2 victory over the Wildcats.

UCLA went 5-0 in the tournament while NU finished 3-2, suffering its first two losses of the season; the first came against unranked San Diego State on Friday evening.

In the fourth inning, NU scored its runs on RBI singles by Nicole Pauly and Erin Dyer. Suffering from the 2-0 deficit, UCLA responded in the bottom half of the fourth with five runs on two home runs.

The Bruins scored again in the bottom of the fifth to take a 6-2 that the Cats could not come back from. On Saturday the Cats fought from behind against No. 6 LSU and No. 25 Texas, but were unable to do so against the All-American Selden (7-1). 

While Lauren Delaney threw a no-hitter with 17 strikeouts on Friday to top the Oregon Ducks, Delaney struggled against other Pac-10 foe UCLA. Delaney allowed six runs, three of which were earned, on five hits, but only registered five strikeouts. Delaney (6-2) may have been tired by the end of the tournament, pitching in all five of the team’s games this weekend in just three days.

Following an opening weekend performance where she was named Big Ten Player of the Week and Louisville Slugger National Player of the Week, junior Tammy Williams went 8-12 at the plate. She is batting .655 on the season, and slugging .862.

Nicole Pauly is tied for the team lead with 10 runs scored and is leading the team with 12 RBI, while batting .323. Pauly has also stolen two bases thus far.

The Cats will face Kansas, Bradley, Western Illinois and Southern Illinois in the Coach B Classic in Carbondale, Ill., home of the Salukis next weekend. NU will play two games on both Saturday and Sunday. Following the four games in Illinois, the Cats will not return to The Prairie State again until late in March when conference play begins on the 28^th against Wisconsin. NU will spend the two weekends following the trip to Southern Illinois in Long Beach, Calif., for the Long Beach Invitational and in Honolulu, Hawaii at the Bank of Hawaii Invitational. 

Women's Fencing: Midwest Conference Championships (Individual)

Saturday at the Midwest Fencing Conference Championships at Notre Dame in South Bend, Ind., Northwestern competed in the individual aspect of the competition. Seven Wildcats placed in the top eight, reaching the semifinals of their respective weapons.

Junior Sam Nemecek led the way with a second-place finish in foil. It was Nemecek’s third straight top-two finish in her NU career at Conference Championships. Nemecek went 6-0 in pool play, won her first four matches in direct-elimination bracket fencing and went head-to-head with Ohio State’s Oksana Dmytruk in the finals. Nemecek lost 15-5.

In foil, senior Natalie Wang finished sixth and sophomore Meredith Baskies placed eighth.

In sabre, freshman Jill Mahen returned from her shoulder injury suffered in a car accident to finish eighth.

Sophomore Joanna Niklinska led NU’s epee squad with a third place finish, ahead of teammates Kayley French, who finished fifth, and Sara Henning, who finished seventh. Niklinska lost to Ohio State’s Kaela Brendler 15-9 in the semifinals.

On Sunday the Cats will take place in team competition.

Softball: Pair of Three-Run Home Runs Guide Cats to 2-0 Saturday

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 18^th 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.

The Cats final game of the Palm Springs Classis is Sunday afternoon against No. 11 UCLA. 

Men's Basketball: Cats come up short against Hoosiers

Freshman guard Michael Thompson had two chances to give Northwestern its first conference victory of the season. Thompson drove the lane with 20 seconds left, with the Wildcats down just one point, and got to the basket. He put up a shot over Indiana forward D.J. White, but it fell short.

Thompson missed a 3-pointer at the buzzer which would have sent the game to overtime as the No. 15 Hoosiers avoided the upset at Welsh-Ryan Arena 85-82.

The Cats (7-18, 0-14 Big Ten) led for much of the game, but trailed coming down the stretch. They erased a 6-point deficit and for the second straight game and see-sawed in and out of the lead against the Hoosiers (23-4, 13-2) as the game came down the stretch.

NU had a chance to win the game for the second straight outing. The team missed two 3-pointers which would have given it the first conference win of the season Tuesday against Iowa.

Sophomore forward Kevin Coble scored a career high 37 points and grabbed five rebounds. Thompson scored 15 points and junior guard Craig Moore added 12.

The Hoosiers were playing a day after the school announced the resignation of former coach Kelvin Sampson. The team was coached by former assistant Dan Dakich.

Dakich said the team seemed a little distracted from the emotional roller coaster the team has been on throughout the week, but pulled through it in the end. Guard Armon Bassett had 24 points and Jordan Crawford scored 21 points off the bench for Indiana.

The Hoosiers shot 56 percent from the floor and hit 30 of 37 free throws, overcoming the 17 turnovers the Cats forced.

NU, still in search of its first conference win, will play at Michigan on Tuesday night.

Softball: NU suffers first loss of the season

Off to a great 5-0 start following a Lauren Delaney no-hit performance in a 7-0 defeat of Oregon, Northwestern faced San Diego State in the second game of the twi-night doubleheader. San Diego State scored a run in the bottom of the seventh inning to hand NU its first loss of the season, 3-2.

The Aztecs defeated No. 9 Arizona earlier in the day to push their record to 11-1, while the Wildcats' defeat of Oregon and loss to San Diego State puts their record at 5-1.

San Diego State scored the game's first two runs in the bottom of the first by capitalizing on a leadoff walk, two singles and a balk from pitcher Jessica Smith.

Down 2-0, NU scored both of its runs in the fourth inning on a series of plays, highlighted by Erin and Kelly Dyer. Erin hit a two-out solo home run, her second of the year to bring the Cats within a run. Kelly then singled to left center, moved to second on a single by Robin Thompson and scored on an erratic throw.

After the Aztecs' first batter of the sixth inning doubled, Lauren Delaney came into the game in the sixth inning and worked out of the jam.

In the seventh, however, an Aztec reached base on a one-out walk, and moved to third on a throw that dribbled away from first base. A two out bloop single scored the runner from third.

Tammy Williams recorded two hits for the sixth consecutive game to start the season.

On Saturday the Cats will face a pair of ranked teams, No. 6 LSU and No. 25 Texas, seeking to get back on track.

Softball: Delaney Throws No-No in Opener

On Friday evening No. 2 Northwestern defeated the Oregon Ducks 7-0 behind a stellar performance by sophomore pitcher Lauren Delaney in the Wildcats' first game of the Palm Springs Classic.

Delaney (4-0) went the distance and recorded a career-high 17 strikeouts and did not allow a hit on the day. It was Delaney's second career no-hitter. Her first came April 28 against Illinois in conference play, and it is the 38th no-hitter in NU history.

Last year NU ace Eileen Canney threw a no-hitter in the same tournament against the California Golden Bears.

With the win the Cats moved to 5-0 on the season, and have now defeated every team in the Pac-10 during Coach Kate Drohan's career at NU.

Heading in to the seventh inning Delaney had struck out eight consecutive batters, but a bunt attempt halted the streak. Delaney struck out the following two, capping off the 17 strikeout performance.

Kelly Dyer and Tammy Williams each recorded two hits on the day, while freshman Michelle Batts walked three times.

Oregon moved to 6-7 with the loss.