Comeback win dampened by shutout losses

Senior 2nd baseman extended NU career with a clutch single

By Zach Silka

The Daily Northwestern

Standing in the batter’s box with two outs and an 0-2 count, the end of Carri Leto’s career loomed before her. But the Wildcats second baseman singled up the middle to extend her time on the Northwestern softball team one more day.

The hit tied the Cats’ NCAA regional tournament elimination game against South Carolina in the bottom of the seventh inning and allowed third baseman Kristen Amegin to blast a two-run walk-off home run in the eighth inning.

“I was not ready to be done with Northwestern softball,” Leto said. “I thought it was pretty ironic for me to be in the batter’s box in that situation.”

After narrowly defeating the fourth-seeded Gamecocks (28-23) by a score of 5-3 on Friday, third-seeded NU (34-20) could not keep its championship hopes alive Saturday as the eventual Arizona regional champion, fifth-seeded No. 9 Louisiana-Lafayette (58-6), shut out the Cats 3-0. NU won its opening-round game against sixth-seeded UC-Santa Barbara (32-20) by a score of 8-1 on Thursday but lost 8-0 to second-seeded No. 21 Oklahoma (42-19-1) on Friday.

On Saturday, Louisiana-Lafayette pitcher Brooke Mitchell victimized NU with great breaking pitches and, Leto said, the best change-up she had ever seen.

“Brooke Mitchell threw a gem against us,” NU coach Kate Drohan said. “She used her off-speed pitch effectively to get easy outs against us.

“We just got beat.”

Mitchell (43-4) allowed only three hits and struck out 11 batters in her complete-game shutout. She also never allowed more than one hit in an inning and walked only three hitters.

Oklahoma pitcher Kami Keiter also pounded the Cats. In six innings Keiter (19-12) gave up seven hits but proved effective at getting herself out of jams, throwing four strikeouts.

“(Keiter) wasn’t an overpowering pitcher, but she hit her spots well and her pitches moved,” Drohan said. “We weren’t attacking the ball enough.”

Keiter also hit her first home run of the season in the fourth inning to give the Sooners a 2-0 lead.

“With the score at 2-0, we still had scoring opportunities, but Oklahoma shifted the momentum early,” Drohan said. “We missed our opportunities, and we got flat. We didn’t play good softball.”

The defeat put NU into the tournament’s loser’s bracket and into an elimination scenario against South Carolina on Friday night.

Down 3-1 to start the electrifying seventh inning against the Gamecocks, shortstop Eryn Manahan led off with a single and scored on first baseman Jamie Dotson’s double to center field.

“We had a meeting after the first run scored with the base runners to talk over strategy,” Drohan said. “And (assistant coach) Caryl (Drohan) said to me, ‘I don’t care what you do. Just get Carri Leto up to bat.'”

With runners on second and third, Leto stepped to the plate to hit her game-tying single.

“We know when our backs are against the wall, and teams playing against us are scared of that,” Leto said. “Good teams know how to hold a lead, but great teams know how to come from behind.”

Designated player Garland Cooper singled to start the eighth inning, and Amegin clobbered an 0-2 offering from South Carolina pitcher Melanie Henkes well over the center field fence.

“I’m just a gamer, and I wasn’t going to let her beat me,” Amegin said. “After I got down 0-2, I told myself, ‘She’s not going to get anything by me. I’m going to hit something hard.’ I never gave up on myself, and I stayed aggressive throughout the whole at-bat.”

The loss to Louisiana-Lafayette ended the Cats’ season, but Drohan remained positive.

“This was the toughest regional out there by far,” she said. “But this caps off another great year, and we are a step closer to getting to a World Series.”

Drohan said the tournament also was valuable experience for future tournaments.

“Next year when our pitchers are more experienced,” Drohan said. “If we can get a little more luck and a better draw, it might be a different story.”