Northwestern catcher Jamie Dotson said she loves hitting behind first baseman Garland Cooper.
Odds are the rest of the team feels the same way, especially after Tuesday.
With two outs and a runner on third in the bottom of the seventh inning, Notre Dame pitcher Heather Booth intentionally walked Cooper to pitch to Dotson.
It seemed like the smart move: Cooper was a .393 hitter and had taken Booth deep the inning before. Dotson was hitting .252 and was 0-for-1 on the game with a groundout and two walks.
“I knew they were making a mistake,” Cooper said. “I knew that Jamie had my back.”
Dotson delivered a single to center to tie the game and designated player Kristen Amegin followed with the game winner as NU came back to beat Notre Dame 3-2.
Before Cooper’s home run broke the ice in the sixth, the Fighting Irish (26-13) had held the Wildcats (30-10) scoreless.
The Cats loaded the bases with one out in the first but a pop out and a ground out ended the threat.
“We were a little slow to make adjustments in the batter’s box,” Amegin said. “It all came around and we were learning from each other’s at-bats in the later innings. We were starting to hit the ball hard.”
Cooper said she was “ready to hit” in the sixth inning after walking in her two previous at-bats.
“We had lost some momentum and we needed to get it back,” she said. “I went in there trying to make something happen for our team.”
In the bottom of the inning, coach Kate Drohan pulled starting pitcher Eileen Canney with one out and put in Courtnay Foster.
Foster struck out centerfielder Stephanie Brown before loading the bases on a hit and two walks.
She put out the fire by striking out second baseman Katie Laing to end the inning.
“(Foster) just came out and attacked them,” Dotson said. “She was pitching great. It really helped us get that momentum back.”
Drohan said she stressed the importance of putting the ball in play to her team going into its last at-bat.
“We had some good hitters coming up,” she said. “We just needed to create some offense, get some runners.”
Third baseman Darcy Sengewald started the inning with a four-pitch walk and advanced to third on two groundouts before scoring the tying run on Dotson’s single.
Dotson said she wasn’t sure when the ball left the bat if it was going to be a hit.
“I was hoping the centerfielder was not going to make a great play and dive,” she said. “It happens, so I was just hoping it would go down.”
Amegin, who was 0-for-1 going into her last at-bat, took the second pitch she saw into center field and Cooper scored the winning run standing up.
“I was just thinking ‘see the ball down and hit it hard, just relax,” Amegin said.
The Cats split the series with the Fighting Irish last year. NU’s wins came in the regional playoffs, sending them to the Super Regional round of 16.
Drohan said winning the game against their midwestern rivals will give the Cats a boost for the rest of the conference season.
“It’s been a long time since we’ve had to come from behind in a game,” she said. “And to do it against Notre Dame is good. That’s an experience that’s really going to elevate our play going into the Big Ten this weekend.”
Reach David Morrison at [email protected].
