Northwestern
Indiana
Indiana Comes Back to Stun NU, 5-4
4/24/2004 12:00:00 AM | Softball
April 24, 2004
EVANSTON, Ill. - Indiana scored four runs in the sixth and seventh innings to come from behind and stun Northwestern Saturday, 5-4, at Sharon J. Drysdale Field. NU had won its last seven games against the Hoosiers dating back to 2000.
The Wildcats built leads in the second and fifth innings, but both times the Hoosiers were able to mount comebacks. Northwestern, now 25-14 overall, 8-6 in the Big Ten, has led at some point in 32 of its 39 games.
NU put the first score of the day on the board in the second when Jamie Dotson singled in Elizabeth Piatt, who was pinch running after Garland Cooper drew a walk. Cooper finished the game 2-for-2 with a pair of singles and two walks. She is now slugging .663 with a .492 on-base percentage for the year, making her OBPS an obscene 1.155.
With the score tied 1-1 in the fifth, NU pushed across three more runs. Kristin Amegin hit an RBI single to score Erin Mobley for the first 'Cat run of the frame. Eryn Manahan then followed with an RBI double to score Amegin and Cooper, who also singled in the inning.
That is when things fell apart for the Wildcats and starter Courtnay Foster (11-12). A wild pitch and an error in the sixth led to a pair of Hoosier runs to cut the NU lead to 4-3. In the seventh, Val White got on base for the Hoosiers with a seeing-eye single through the hole. Two outs later, Foster hit a batter to put runners at first and third for Tory Yamaguchi, who hit a walk-off, two-run double to dead center to end the game.
Megan Roark, who was blasted by NU for eight runs on seven hits in 1.1 innings Friday, picked up the win in relief for Indiana (27-26, 3-9 Big Ten), improving her record to 9-8.
Northwestern returns to action with a Sunday doubleheader beginning at Noon at Sharon J. Drysdale Field against Purdue.
