March 29, 2009

Box Score

UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. -- No. 10 Northwestern exploded for 10 runs on six hits with three home runs and junior starter Lauren Delaney (Jefferson City, Mo./Helias) tossed a two-hit shutout to run-rule Penn State Sunday, 10-0 (5).

The win pushes Northwestern's overall record on the year to 18-7, 4-0 in the Big Ten. Penn State now is 9-16 on the season, 0-4 in the conference.

Northwestern put itself on the board right away in the top of the first. Robin Thompson (Detroit, Mich./Martin Luther King) drew a leadoff walk before speeding through the sloggy infield to second for a steal. She moved to third on a Tammy Williams (Roscoe, Mo./Osceola) groundout before being joined on the bases when Adrienne Monka (Rancho Cucamonga, Calif./Rancho Cucamonga) also worked a walk.

Sophomore Michelle Batts (Bloomingdale, Ill./Glenbard North) followed with a rocket to first that ate up the fielder for a single, allowing Thompson to score and moving Monka to second. Penn State starter Lisa Akamine issued the third walk of the inning to Nicole Pauly (Palatine, Ill./Palatine) to load the bases before getting out of the jam.

The Wildcats added to their total in the third. Monka drew her second walk of the game to lead off the inning before giving way to pinch runner Aly Euler (River Forest, Ill./Oak Park River Forest). Batts then crushed a low line drive home run that barely got above the top of the fence at any point in its trajectory before slamming into the scoreboard. Pauly immediately followed with a more conventional soaring home run to left to give Northwestern a 4-0 advantage.

Batts' blast was her fourth of the season and the 17th of her career, moving her into an eighth-place tie with Erin Mobley (2002-05) and Sue Hebson (1980-83) on NU's all-time list. Pauly's shot was the sixth of her season and the 35th of her career.

Thompson led off the top of the fourth with a single, causing Penn State to replace Akamine (4-9) with Kimi Wong in the circle. Thompson stole second for the third time in the game, then moved to third when Williams reached on an error. A wild pitch from Wong brought Thompson home and Williams all the way from first to third when no one covered the hot corner bag.

Monka reached for the third time in the game when her grounder to third took a nasty hop into the fielder to be ruled an error, then Batts worked a walk to load the bases still with no outs. Another walk to Pauly forced in Williams from third to make the game 6-0. Ashley Lafever (Bettendorf, Iowa/Pleasant Valley) replaced Batts on the base paths during the sequence.

Erin Dyer (Home Glen, Ill./Lockport) moved every runner up a base with a deep sacrifice fly to left before a Kelly Dyer (Homer Glen, Lockport) fielder's choice grounder drove in Lafever to push the game into run-rule territory. A Kelly Quinn (Northbrook, Ill./Glenbrook North) RBI groundout pushed home Pauly to make the score 9-0 when the top of the fourth ended.

Delaney faced the minimum number of batters through the first three innings (the only Nittany Lion to reach was thrown out trying to steal by Erin Dyer) before Penn State put its first two batters to the plate in the bottom of the fourth on base via a walk and a single. The runners moved up a bag on a passed ball before Delaney coaxed a pop up to short for out number one. Penn State then loaded the bags before Thompson fired home on a grounder to third for out number two. The next PSU batter crushed a one-hopper down the line that Thompson was able to stop with her body, barehand and take to third to end the inning.

Williams led off the top of the fifth with a landmark home run, crushing No. 50 of her career over the fence in right. She now has eight blasts on the year and has gone yard in four-straight games for NU.

Delaney shut down the Nittany Lions in the bottom half of the inning to complete the two-hit shutout. She now is 17-6 on the year after allowing two hits and two walks with five strikeouts.

Batts led NU at the plate with a 3-for-3 performance, driving in three runs. Pauly was 1-for-2 with two RBIs and two runs scored while both Williams and Thompson scored twice.

Northwestern returns to action at 2 p.m. CT Wednesday, April 1, in a Big Ten doubleheader against Michigan State at Sharon J. Drysdale Field.

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