Whether it’s light-hitting Cardinals catcher Yadier Molina winning last season’s National League Championship Series with a home run or White Sox utility man Geoff Blum smacking a winning homer in game three of the 2005 World Series, unheralded players often make a huge impact in baseball.
The same is true in softball. And even though Northwestern’s roster includes three of college softball’s best players in pitcher Eileen Canney, first baseman Garland Cooper and shortstop Tammy Williams, NU’s fate this season will largely hinge on the productivity of its supporting cast.
Last year’s squad that made it to the finals of the Women’s College World Series, where it fell to Arizona, featured several seniors, including pitcher Courtnay Foster, catcher Jamie Dotson and designated player Kristen Amegin. But this season’s supporting cast is much younger.
If these young players are up to the challenge, another deep playoff run is likely. If not, the Wildcats will have a difficult time matching last season’s success.
Judging from NU’s non-conference games and its first weekend of Big Ten play, the Cats should be fine.
Freshman hurler Lauren Delaney has excelled this season and stands unbeaten with a record of 13-0. And she’s proven she can do it against first-class talent, beating then-No. 11 Oregon State on March 3 with eight shutout innings.
Some questions may have been raised when Delaney surrendered back-to-back home runs in the first inning of NU’s victory against Michigan on Saturday and was pulled. But coach Kate Drohan isn’t concerned with her young pitcher.
“I’m not worried about it at all,” Drohan said. “We’ll continue to use both (Canney and Delaney) down the stretch in the Big Ten.”
In college softball, a sport in which a team can dominate with one superstar pitcher, it may not be necessary for Delaney to be lights out. But if she can bounce back and pitch as she did against Oregon State, it would give the Cats a significant advantage over other squads.
Offensively, youth will have to play a big role for NU this season. Behind leadoff hitter Katie Logan, Williams and Cooper, the Cats’ lineup sometimes features three freshmen and two sophomores. Only sophomore catcher Erin Dyer and junior third baseman Darcy Sengewald have been regular starters before.
The good news for NU is Dyer and freshman second baseman Nicole Pauly, who are replacing Dotson and Amegin in the fourth and fifth spots in the lineup, have combined to hit .279 with 11 home runs and 60 RBIs.
In Friday’s loss to Michigan, Pauly slammed an opposite-field double in the first inning that scored two runs and could have won the game had Canney been up to her usual dominance. And senior right fielder Jessica Miller hit a mammoth two-run homer Saturday that was the difference in NU’s victory.
“There’s no one person on our team who couldn’t be out on the field right now, who I wouldn’t feel comfortable putting in the batters box,” Miller said. “Overall I think we’ve done really well. We’ve executed for the most part all the way through the lineup.”
Despite the occasional impatient at-bat or runners left on base, the signs are positive.
In fact, if Delaney continues progressing as the No. 2 pitcher and Pauly, Dyer and company continue taking advantage of the scoring opportunities presented to them, the Wildcats lifting the championship trophy this season won’t be from Arizona.
Deputy sports editor Andrew Simon is a Medill sophomore. He can be reached at [email protected].
