Friday, May 20
Evanston, IL
3:30 pm CT
Northwestern
41-10
9
vs
2
Oakland
26-16
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
R
H
E
Oakland
0
0
2
0
0
0
0
2
4
4
Northwestern
2
0
1
1
5
0
X
9
8
1
'Cats Top Oakland 9-2 in NCAA Tournament Opener
5/20/2022 6:08:00 PM | Softball
EVANSTON, Ill. – Northwestern downed Oakland 9-2 at Sharon J. Drysdale Field on Friday in its opening game of the NCAA Tournament.
The Wildcats will take on McNeese tomorrow at noon CT for the right to advance to the Evanston regional final on Sunday. The loser will play again at 5 p.m. CT for another opportunity to advance to Sunday's game.
Maeve Nelson crushed two homers, driving in four runs to lead the Wildcat offense. It is the fourth multi-home run game of Nelson's career and her second and third ever NCAA Tournament homers.
First-year Grace Nieto came up big for Northwestern in her first NCAA Tournament game, reaching base in all three of her plate appearances and driving in two runs. Rachel Lewis tripled, singled, and scored two runs to kick-off her final tournament run.
Danielle Williams allowed just four hits and struck out eight in the complete game victory for NU, the third complete-game victory of her NCAA Tournament career.
After Skyler Shellmyer led things off for the 'Cats by reaching on an error, Rachel Lewis drove her in with a triple to right field. Rudd brought home Lewis on an RBI ground-out the next at bat to put Northwestern up 2-0 at the end of the first inning.
Danielle Williams cruised through the first two innings Oakland capitalized on two hit batters and a walk for two runs to tie the game.
From that point on, it was all Northwestern with the 'Cats scoring seven unanswered runs to close out the game. Maeve Nelson responded in the bottom of the third with a solo homer off of Welsh-Ryan Arena to put Northwestern back in front, followed by a Grace Nieto RBI-single in the fourth inning.
Nelson and Nieto teamed up for another big inning in the fifth, with Nelson blasting a three-run shot and Nieto driving in two more runs with a single. Danielle Williams retired seven of the final eight Oakland batters to end the game.
Gallery: (5-20-2022) Softball vs. Oakland - NCAA Regionals (5/20/22)
The Wildcats will take on McNeese tomorrow at noon CT for the right to advance to the Evanston regional final on Sunday. The loser will play again at 5 p.m. CT for another opportunity to advance to Sunday's game.
Maeve Nelson crushed two homers, driving in four runs to lead the Wildcat offense. It is the fourth multi-home run game of Nelson's career and her second and third ever NCAA Tournament homers.
First-year Grace Nieto came up big for Northwestern in her first NCAA Tournament game, reaching base in all three of her plate appearances and driving in two runs. Rachel Lewis tripled, singled, and scored two runs to kick-off her final tournament run.
Danielle Williams allowed just four hits and struck out eight in the complete game victory for NU, the third complete-game victory of her NCAA Tournament career.
After Skyler Shellmyer led things off for the 'Cats by reaching on an error, Rachel Lewis drove her in with a triple to right field. Rudd brought home Lewis on an RBI ground-out the next at bat to put Northwestern up 2-0 at the end of the first inning.
Danielle Williams cruised through the first two innings Oakland capitalized on two hit batters and a walk for two runs to tie the game.
From that point on, it was all Northwestern with the 'Cats scoring seven unanswered runs to close out the game. Maeve Nelson responded in the bottom of the third with a solo homer off of Welsh-Ryan Arena to put Northwestern back in front, followed by a Grace Nieto RBI-single in the fourth inning.
Nelson and Nieto teamed up for another big inning in the fifth, with Nelson blasting a three-run shot and Nieto driving in two more runs with a single. Danielle Williams retired seven of the final eight Oakland batters to end the game.
Team Stats
Pitching:
W: Williams, Danielle (27-4)
L: Sydney Campbell (23-8)
Batting:
RBI: Jen Krizka 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Madison Jones 1 ; Reese Ruhlman 1
HBP: Madison Jones 1 ; Reese Ruhlman 1
Batting:
3B: Lewis, Rachel 1
HR: Nelson, Maeve 2
RBI: Lewis, Rachel 1 ; Rudd, Jordyn 1 ; Nelson, Maeve 4 ; Nieto, Grace 2
Base Running:
RUNS: Shellmyer, Skyler 1 ; Lewis, Rachel 2 ; Stanley, Sammy 1 ; Nelson, Maeve 2 ; Zedak, Angela 1 ; Cady, Hannah 1 ; Lindsey, Ayana 1
SB: Stanley, Sammy 1 ; Lindsey, Ayana 1
Game Leaders
Hitting
AB
4
R
2
H
2
RBI
1
AB
4
R
2
H
2
RBI
4
AB
2
R
0
H
2
RBI
2
AB
4
R
0
H
1
RBI
1
Players Mentioned
IF/OF
/ SoftballIF
/ SoftballIF
/ Softball
OF
/ Softball
P/U
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