Sunday, February 11
Tempe, Ariz.
10 a.m. CT/9 a.m. MT
Northwestern
4-1
13
vs
5
South Dakota
0-6
1
2
3
4
5
R
H
E
South Dakota
1
0
4
0
0
5
9
2
Northwestern
5
3
0
2
3
13
13
0
#B1GCats End Kajikawa With A Bang, Run-Rule South Dakota 13-5 (5)
2/11/2018 12:22:00 PM | Softball
TEMPE, Ariz. – Northwestern ended its 2018 season-opening weekend in style, run-ruling South Dakota 13-5 (5) Sunday morning at the Tempe Sports Complex to conclude the Kajikawa Classic.
Northwestern wraps up the weekend with a 4-1 record at the Kajikawa Classic, its best record at the season-opening event since going 4-0 in 2008. The Wildcats have played in the tournament every year since 2005 with just one exception.
NU is next in action February 16-18 at the B1G/ACC Challenge in Raleigh, N.C.
South Dakota, which scored runs in bunches at the Kajikawa despite its winless record, started the game on top with a two-out solo homer in the top of the first against Wildcats starter Kaley Winegarner.
Northwestern had its pitcher's back in the bottom half, throwing up a five-run response rally. Sabrina Rabin and Marissa Panko each singled on the infield to start the frame before Rachel Lewis drew a bases-loading walk. One out later, first-year Kenna Wilkey singled back through the middle to bring both Rabin and Panko around and immediately put the Wildcats on top, 2-1.
The scoring continued with a Lily Novak RBI single followed by a passed ball that allowed Wilkey to race to the plate. Sammy Nettling recorded the final RBI in the rally with a groundout that brought Lily in.
The outburst marked the second time on Opening Weekend that the Wildcats plated five runs in the first, and the fourth time in five games that NU scored in the initial frame.
Northwestern added three more runs to its total in the second. Again Rabin started the rally with a single, this time stealing second base before moving to third when Panko laid double a bunt DOUBLE. No one from South Dakota covered second on the play, and Panko just kept motoring on the base hit. Lewis then hit a high, high pop up behind second base that the second baseman caught just on the infield grass, and the ever-aggressive Rabin tagged up from third to score. Anticipating a throw to the plate, Panko lit out for third but the throw was cut off and she was tagged out for the rare sacrifice fly double play.
Now with the bases empty, Morgan Nelson stepped into the first pitch she saw and blast a solo home run over the fence in left field. The shot was Nelson's first of the season and the 11th of her career.
Later, with two outs, Wilkey drew a walk and gave way to Abbey Boyd, who stole second. South Dakota lifted starting pitcher Alexis Devers in favor of Gill Woodward, who Novak greeted with a ground-rule double over the fence in left-center to make it an 8-1 ballgame.
South Dakota's prolific offense got rolling in the third. The first four Coyotes to the plate reached against Winegarner with two runs coming in. With the score now 8-3, Morgan Newport entered the circle in relief and immediately got a pop up for the first out before a walk loaded the bases and the next Coyote ripped a two-run double. Newport recovered from there to end the inning with the Wildcats still in front by three, 8-5.
NU got two of those runs back in the bottom of the fourth, starting its rally with a Lewis single. Lewis stole second, then stole third on ball four to Nelson. South Dakota was caught so by surprise at the Lewis steal that they threw the ball away, allowing Lewis to score and moving Nelson to second. Wilkey stepped in and single Nelson to third before a Novak sacrifice fly brought her home to push NU's lead back out to five, 10-5.
After Newport's second-straight inning of scoreless relief in the fifth, South Dakota brought in its third pitcher of the game to start the bottom half, and Nettling singled off her to start the frame. Eva Stees ran for Nettling and immediately stole second base. After Rabin singled Stees to third, Panko hit a comebacker and Stees got caught in a pickle between third and home. The catcher applied a tag to Stees, but the ball popped out for an error and Stees raced to the plate to score.
Lewis kept the rally flowing with an RBI single before, with the bases loaded and two outs, Novak drew a walk to end the game early.
Newport (1-0) got the win in relief, throwing 3.0 scoreless innings of relief and allowing three hits on two walks with three strikeouts. Winegarner went two-plus frames in the start, giving up five runs on six hits and a walk with one strikeout.
Novak was the big run producer for NU, recording an RBI in each of her four plate appearances to finish with four for the game. She, Panko, Lewis and Wilkey all had two base hits while Rabin finished with three and three runs scored. Panko, Lewis and Nelson all scored twice; Lewis and Wilkey knocked in a pair apiece.
••••••
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Team Stats
Pitching:
W: Newport, Morgan (1-0)
L: Alexis Devers (0-3)
Batting:
2B: Lauren Eamiguel 2
HR: Alyssa Fernandez 1 ; Emily Winckler 1
RBI: Alyssa Fernandez 2 ; Emily Winckler 1 ; Lauren Eamiguel 2
Base Running:
RUNS: Camille Fowler 1 ; Alyssa Fernandez 1 ; Emily Winckler 2 ; Jamie Holscher 1
Batting:
2B: Panko, Marissa 1 ; Novak, Lily 1
HR: Nelson, Morgan 1
RBI: Lewis, Rachel 2 ; Nelson, Morgan 1 ; Wilkey, Kenna 2 ; Novak, Lily 4 ; Nettling, Sammy 1
SF: Lewis, Rachel 1 ; Novak, Lily 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Rabin, Sabrina 3 ; Panko, Marissa 2 ; Lewis, Rachel 2 ; Nelson, Morgan 2 ; Wilkey, Kenna 1 ; Boyd, Abbey 1 ; Novak, Lily 1 ; Stees, Eva 1
SB: Rabin, Sabrina 2 ; Lewis, Rachel 3 ; Boyd, Abbey 1 ; Stees, Eva 1
Game Leaders
Hitting
AB
4
R
3
H
3
RBI
0
AB
4
R
2
H
2
RBI
0
AB
2
R
2
H
2
RBI
2
AB
3
R
1
H
2
RBI
2
Players Mentioned
OF
/ SoftballIF/OF
/ Softball
IF/C
/ Softball
C
/ Softball
P/U
/ Softball
IF
/ SoftballIF/OF
/ SoftballOF
/ Softball
P
/ Softball
P
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