By Philip Rossman-ReichThe Daily Northwestern
For more than three seasons, senior first baseman Garland Cooper has rewritten the Northwestern record books.
The Wildcats’ career leader in home runs sent two more over the fence as No. 8 NU (28-7) earned a 6-1 win against Northern Ilinois on Tuesday at Sharon J. Drysdale Field.
The home runs were her 13th and 14th of the season, the second one tying another NU hitting mark and moving Cooper closer to making Big Ten history. She tied the Cats’ single-season home run record and moved into a tie with Michigan’s Jessica Merchant for second place on the all-time Big Ten list.
“I don’t like looking at the stats,” Cooper said. “I mean, it’s cool. But still second: not quite good enough.”
Cooper broke NU’s record for career home runs earlier this season and continues to pull away from the pack. Her 14th home run ties the single-season mark set by Kristin Amegin in 2005 and shortstop Tammy Williams in 2006.
But Amegin and Williams didn’t have 20 regular-season games and the postseason remaining in their seasons.
“I try to come out with the same approach,” Cooper said. “This game, I came out the same like I did against Michigan and Michigan State (this past weekend). Every time I’m just out there trying to perform for my team and doing the best that I can.”
Cooper wasn’t the only NU hitter who provided offense.
Freshman second baseman Nicole Pauly’s single in the third brought a run home and extended her hitting streak to 13 games. The Big Ten player of the week went 1 for 3. Williams also extended her hitting streak to 21 games with a single in the fifth.
Freshman pitcher Lauren Delaney came out strong against the Huskies (13-14) after struggling during the weekend’s Big Ten opening series.
She struck out the first two batters on her way to seven strikeouts.
But she allowed Huskies runners to get into scoring position in the second, third and seventh innings. She got out of each thanks to help from her defense and the corrections she made from the weekend.
“Basically, Lauren just needs to stay aggressive,” coach Kate Drohan said. “Instead of trying to hit a spot, she just needs to throw a pitch and really get after it. She got out of (the jam). She threw some great pitches … I like the way she’s throwing. She’s really maturing well.”
The defense behind Delaney helped the Cats keep the game out of reach.
Ahead 2-0 in the third inning, Northern Illinois put runners on first and second. Randi Kreiter hit a ball to center field that was just out of the reach of senior Katie Logan. Freshman left fielder Kelly Dyer picked up the ball and threw it back to the infield, where Williams got it to sophomore catcher Erin Dyer, who tagged out the runner at the plate.
Delaney was able to finish off the Huskies, striking out the final two batters of the inning.
She moved to 14-0 on the year.
“I think it was a really big game to get me going and get our team going,” Delaney said. “It’s not as much pressure as a Big Ten game. But we still had to come out with intensity and we showed that. It’s going to get us on a roll heading to Purdue this weekend.”
Reach Philip Rossman-Reich at [email protected].
