Northwestern
Michigan
Garland Cooper, 'Cats Slam No. 6 Michigan, 6-4
5/2/2004 12:00:00 AM | Softball
May 2, 2004
EVANSTON, Ill. - Garland Cooper cranked a grand slam in the bottom of the sixth inning to give Northwestern a 6-4, come-from-behind victory over the sixth-ranked Michigan Wolverines in the first game of a doubleheader Sunday at Sharon J. Drysdale Field.
With the win, NU improves to 29-14 overall, 11-6 in the Big Ten. Michigan falls to 45-9 overall, 16-3 in the conference.
Down 4-2 in the bottom of the sixth, Northwestern put together possibly its most important inning of the year. Katie Logan and Carri Leto were both hit by Jennifer Ritter (19-5) pitches and Erin Mobley followed with a walk. Freshman Garland Cooper then drove an 0-2 pitch deep over the right center field fence to stake NU to a 6-4 lead.
The home run was Cooper's eighth of the year, tying her with teammate Kristen Amegin for the team lead and the single-season NU record. She is currently slugging .687 on the year with a .374 batting average, both good for second in the Big Ten. Her .497 on-base percentage is tops in the conference.
Mobley gave Northwestern a 2-0 lead in the third inning with her third home run of the season. Sheila McCorkle led off the frame with the games first hit, a single to center, before Mobley hit a soaring fly ball into a stiff wind and over the right field fence.
Following the Mobley blast, NU chased Michigan starter Lorilyn Wilson when Amegin and Eryn Manahan drew back-to-back walks. Ritter then entered the circle in relief and struck out Jamie Dotson swinging to end the inning.
Leto hit the 33rd double of her career in the fourth inning for the Wildcats, moving her into fourth place all-time at Northwestern. Her two total bases in the game give her 256 for her career, tying her with Kelley Green for second all-time.
Michigan got a run back in the fourth with Nicole Motycka scored on an Eileen Canney wild pitch, and drew even at 2-2 when Motycka plated Tiffany Haas with her second double of the game in the sixth.
The Wolverines took the lead later in the sixth when Grace Leutele hit a two-run single up the middle to make the score 4-2 in favor of Michigan.
Canney upped her record to 16-2 on the season, and has won her last nine decisions. She struck out ten batters in the contest, giving her 153 for the season.
