Softball
ANN ARBOR, Mich. — For the second consecutive game in the Big Ten tournament, Northwestern couldn’t bring runners home. And this time they paid for it.
The Wildcats stranded ten runners on base and lost 2-1 in eight innings to Iowa in the Big Ten semifinals.
“You leave 10 runners on base, you’re going to lose. It’s as simple as that,” NU coach Kate Drohan said. “I think it’s all in our heart. Obviously we can hit. We need to show up on championship day.”
The Cats had runners in scoring position every inning except the third and sixth, but only Garland Cooper recorded an RBI, on a triple in the fifth.
And even that play came with some controversy.
Cooper hit the ball high to left field, and the ball looked to be curving toward foul territory. But Iowa left fielder Jenna Spratt touched the ball in fair territory as she dived to make the catch, and freshman Stephanie Churchwell came around to score and give NU a 1-0 lead. Iowa coach Gayle Blevins immediately came out of the dugout to argue the call, but the play stood.
“I thought it was fair for sure,” Drohan said. “She definitely touched it. There was no doubt in my mind that it was fair and that she had touched it in fair territory.”
The Cats held the 1-0 lead into the bottom of the sixth inning, but Iowa rallied to tie the game.
Sophomore Eileen Canney had struck out seven going into the sixth but gave up a single to start the inning. A sacrifice bunt advanced the runner to second and a wild pitch on ball four put runners at first and third with one out for NU.
Junior Courtnay Foster came in to relieve Canney and immediately forced a ground ball to Cooper for what looked like a sure out. But Cooper was caught off guard when the runner at third headed home, and Cooper froze, missing the throw home and the out at first.
“I didn’t know that she was going home so I was going to tag that runner, and I just got kind of jumbled up,” Cooper said.
Foster struck out the next two batters, but the damage was done and the Cats headed into the seventh tied 1-1.
The Cats threatened in the seventh after Churchwell singled and advanced to second on a sacrifice bunt by senior Erin Mobley. Iowa intentionally walked Cooper to bring up junior Jamie Dotson, who was 0 for 3 with three strikeouts in the game. Dotson made contact this time, but only enough for a weak pop-up to the shortstop that ended the inning.
Iowa went three up-three down in the bottom of the seventh to send the game to extra innings, but NU did not snap out of their scoring funk.
In the bottom of the eighth Iowa hit two straight singles, and a walk loaded the bases for the Hawkeyes with no outs.
A nasty change-up from Foster fooled Iowa’s Mindy Heidgerken, who nearly swung and missed, but instead made enough contact for a squib toward third baseman Darcy Sengewald. The freshman Sengewald was unable to make the throw to home in time to get the runner, and Iowa earned the 2-1 victory.
Drohan said the Cats may have been too relaxed heading into the game.
“We need to show up on championship day, ” she said. “You can’t be that passive and expect to win a championship. So that’s really the message we need to get across.”
Reach Paul Tenorio at [email protected].
