Four outs.
That’s all that stood between No. 19 Northwestern and its first Big Ten regular season championship in 18 years. But No. 1 Michigan ended those hopes with a six-run sixth inning that put Sunday’s game out of reach for the Wildcats.
Up 4-2 with two outs in the sixth, sophomore pitcher Eileen Canney gave up six consecutive hits that gave Michigan an 8-4 lead. The rally started when Michigan’s Stephanie Bercaw drew a walk. Left fielder Rebekah Milian advanced Bercaw to third on an infield single and second baseman Tiffany Haas, a former high school teammate of NU senior Erin Mobley and junior Jamie Dotson, brought both runners home with a double to left-center field to tie the game for Michigan.
After two consecutive singles and another RBI, Michigan’s first baseman Samantha Findlay hit a two-RBI double to open the game up for the Wolverines.
Another single brought Merchant home to make the score 8-4 before Canney was yanked in favor of starter Courtnay Foster. Foster re-entered the game and closed the inning.
“I don’t know, I guess I just, I should’ve made better pitches,” Canney said. “They were really aggressive and I should have moved it around more.”
NU followed Michigan’s big sixth with three runs of it’s own to pull the game back to within 8-7.
Dotson started the Cats’ comeback by doubling to left center, and junior Kristin Amegin advanced pinch-runner Elizabeth Piatt to third on a single.
Junior Sheila McCorkle then stepped to the plate and hit a three-run home run, her second homer of the game, to breathe life into NU.
“She came up with two huge hits for us, kept us in the ballgame,” coach Kate Drohan said. “Both times she really got things going our way and she fought hard today.”
But the three-run rally wasn’t enough for NU. The Cats were unable to mount any more offense in the seventh to pull out the victory and had to watch Michigan celebrate with the title that had been just within their reach.
“As far as experience and growth and development of our team you couldn’t ask for anything better,” Drohan said. “But no one feels good.”
The Cats started the weekend off with a 3-0 loss to Michigan on Saturday. Canney allowed the No. 1 Wolverines four hits, but NU’s offense was unable to muster anything in support.
Despite good pitching, errors cost the Cats in the first game, with Canney and sophomore Katie Logan both picking up errors that led to runs for Michigan.
But the offense started right away for the Cats at the start of the second game, when Dotson hit a sacrifice fly to score freshman Stephanie Churchwell and give NU a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the first.
Then in the second, McCorkle hit her first home run of the game to give the Cats a 2-0 lead, and after Michigan tied the game in the top of the third, Dotson and Amegin both had RBIs to give the Cats a 4-2 lead.
“I thought we came back amazing (Sunday). I thought we were all over the pitchers,” McCorkle said. “I thought at any given time someone was going to hit a home run, and without that inning we would have had it, no problem.”
With the two losses, NU will have to travel back to Ann Arbor, Mich., for the Big Ten tournament, which begins Thursday.
The Cats may have a chance to compete for a title with Michigan again, this time for the tournament championship if both teams make it to the finals.
“I think every person on our team hopes we play them again because I know we can beat them,” Canney said.
Reach Paul Tenorio at [email protected].
