After starting the season with four straight conference losses, the Northwestern softball team has finally crawled up to .500.
The Wildcats (24-12, 6-6 Big Ten) won three of four games this weekend against Indiana and Purdue. The Cats started the weekend road trip with two wins against the Hoosiers (14-22, 0-10) before splitting Sunday’s doubleheader with Purdue (27-20, 4-6).
“We’re working our way back,” freshman pitcher Courtnay Foster said. “It feels good to be getting better.”
Against a Purdue team that entered the series with the best batting average in the Big Ten, Foster led the Cats with her pitching prowess. She shut out the Boilermakers in a 1-0 victory in the first game, recording 10 strikeouts and allowing just two hits in seven innings.
Offensively, the Cats’ bats were quiet, although freshman Kristin Amegin managed to score the team’s only run when she crossed the plate on a wild pitch. Senior left fielder Brett Nakabayashi led NU with two hits.
In the 5-3 NU defeat in game two, Foster replaced senior starter Lauren Schwendimann in the fourth inning. Though she gave up two runs, Foster fanned nine Boilermakers in four innings of two-hit relief.
“I had a good day today, ” Foster said after her 19-strikeout performance. “You hope to have those days every day.”
While Foster shined against Purdue, the whole team contributed in the games against Indiana.
In Friday’s 6-3 win over the Hoosiers, the Cats scored all six of their runs before the fourth inning. Junior catcher J.C. Kira belted two hits, including a three-run home run to left center field.
Leadoff hitter Carrie Leto smacked two hits, scored a run and recorded an RBI. The junior second baseman also hit her fifth triple of the year, which leaves her two shy of NU’s season record.
In the pitching circle, Foster provided the Cats with another strong outing. She threw a complete game, struck out one and allowed eight hits.
Saturday’s game against Indiana was a pitcher’s duel, although Foster didn’t throw for NU. Instead, seniors Brie Brown and Lauren Schwendimann combined to lead the Cats to a 2-1 victory.
While Schwendimann earned the victory for two innings of scoreless relief, Brown held Indiana to one run through the first five innings of the series finale.
With the game tied 1-1 in the top of the sixth, Indiana loaded the bases but failed to score. In the bottom half, Kristin Amegin hit an RBI double that proved to be the game winner.
Although Indiana has lost 30 straight conference games, NU coach Kate Drohan said her players were not complacent.
“Indiana is the best 0-30 conference team I’ve ever seen,” she said. “A win against Indiana is still a Big Ten win.”
The Cats started the season 0-4 in the conference, but Drohan said she won’t be completely happy until her team’s record improves a little more.
“I’m glad that we got out of that hole,” she said. “But we should at least be one game over .500.”
