With no one on base, a scoreless game and zero hits on the day for the Northwestern softball team Friday, junior Gretchen Barnes stepped to the plate in the top of the fifth inning. Frozen fingers and all, she smacked a solo home run to left field – pumping life into the Wildcats, who went on to defeat Minnesota 5-0.
But the excitement was short-lived.
Just 24 hours later, NU found itself toppling over at the hands of the wind – not to mention Wisconsin’s bats – and fell into a 4-0 hole against the Badgers in the first inning. Wisconsin eventually buried the Cats and won, 6-2.
The mixed emotions marked NU’s weekend, as it split another set of Big Ten games. The Cats (13-15, 4-4 Big Ten) beat Minnesota (23-15-1, 2-6) in both games of their doubleheader Friday, but dropped a pair of games on Saturday and Sunday versus Wisconsin (23-15, 5-3). NU pitchers Brie Brown and Lauren Schwendimann threw shutouts against the Golden Gophers, but both lost to the Badgers.
“We had good focus and I thought everyone was in it,” head coach Sharon Drysdale said of her team’s performance against Minnesota. “But we were a little wind-blown and shell-shocked (against Wisconsin).”
Key hits were one reason that the Cats were able to hold off the Gophers, Drysdale said.
“Hitting can be contagious,” Drysdale said. “(The home runs) really opened up the game.”
After Barnes’ home run got things started for NU in the first game of its doubleheader against Minnesota, the Cats continued their onslaught in the sixth inning and never looked back. With freshman Carri Leto and sophomore Brett Nakabayashi on base, sophomore Alyson Schulz belted a three-run shot to extend her home-run streak to three straight games. Barnes tacked on NU’s final run with another solo homer, her third of the season, tying her with Schulz for the team lead.
Barnes, who follows Schulz in the order, said that she hits home runs when she least expects it. She also said that batting after Schulz is added motivation to put the ball over the fence because it’s good to match the excitement that Schulz creates when she hits homers.
“They just feel good,” Barnes said. “It’s a day-by-day thing. Home runs happen when you’re not trying.”
Clutch hitting in the fifth inning helped the Cats in their second game as well. Robyn Pettinger brought her teammates out of the dugout and the fans to their feet with a solo homer over the centerfield fence, giving NU a 1-0 lead. The home run was only the Cats’ second hit of the game.
NU closed out the game in the seventh when Rane Gunderson escaped a rundown to advance to third and scored off a sacrifice fly by J.C. Kira, making the final score 2-1.
But the Cats were never in a position to utilize their clutch hitting against Wisconsin.
Not typically a strong running team, Drysdale said that the Badgers took advantage of the quick winds sailing across Anderson Field and ran the bases aggressively while NU made mistakes.
In the first inning of Saturday’s game, Wisconsin stole two bases and Brown allowed two hits, walked two batters, allowed a batter to advance on a wild pitch and hit a batter.
“I thought she wasn’t throwing as well (on Saturday),” Drysdale said. “She was affected by the wind.”
Still, Drysdale said that her team placed too much emphasis on the wind early in the game, and once NU fell behind, the wind became a mental challenge.
The conditions made it harder for the team to perform physically as well. Throughout the game, Brown stepped back from the mound, wincing, as the infield dirt blew in her face.
Drysdale said that the drafts affected throwing accuracy, and the Badgers’ hit-and-run style in the first inning led to her team’s mistakes. Drysdale said she was disappointed that her team hit very few ground balls. The windy conditions and numerous fly balls by the Cats led to easy putouts for Wisconsin.
NU was also unable to get its leadoff hitters on base. In 14 innings of play against the Badgers, only four of the Cats’ leadoff hitters made it to first, hurting NU’s chances of driving runners home. The team loaded the bases twice with two outs, but was unable to come away with a single run either time.
Much of the Cats’ hitting woes could be attributed to Wisconsin’s Andrea Kirchberg’s stellar pitching. In 12 1/3 innings pitched over the weekend, she allowed just one run on eight hits and struck out 11 batters.
But Kirchberg’s pitching was nothing new for NU’s best hitter, junior Erin Jancic. The Houston native has been playing against Kirchberg for 10 years and got two hits on three at-bats against her old rival Saturday.
Jancic, who went 0-for-3 the next day, said Sunday’s woes came because she didn’t relax and get an early hit like she did on Saturday. Facing her longtime nemesis, however, was not a factor.
“On the field, we hate each other,” Jancic said of her friend. “(And) knowing her gives me a little edge when I face her.”
Jancic’s up-and-down performance over the weekend was symbolic of her team’s inconsistency. She was 1-for-2 and 0-for-3 in the games against Minnesota, and she went 2-for-3 and 0-for-3 against Wisconsin.
“Sometimes you have a good day, sometimes bad,” Jancic said.
