When star shortstop Tammy Williams stepped up to the plate with one out in the fourth inning, No. 13 Northwestern and Notre Dame were in the midst of a pitchers’ duel. Each team had managed just one hit.
Four Wildcats hits and five runs later, Williams found herself on-deck watching the long inning finally coming to its end. Those runs proved to be all NU needed in its 5-0 victory over Notre Dame on Tuesday.
Williams reached base on an infield hit to start the rally. She then stole second and scored on a Nicole Pauly single. Later in the inning, sophomore center fielder Kelly Dyer would drive in two runs on a single, and sophomore designated player Emily Haug would score two more on a deep double that bounced once before reaching the wall in left field.
“I really liked to see that after we pushed that first run across, we turned it into a big inning,” coach Kate Drohan said. “That really changed the whole complexion of the game.”
It was no surprise that the catalyst for the rally was Williams, the leading hitter in the nation.
“I was just trying to get on base,” Williams said. “I trust that they’re going to get those hits and that we’re going to get enough hits in a row to score me.”
At first, it didn’t look like the Cats (24-10) would get that string of hits. Notre Dame (26-13) ace Brittney Bargar had gone through the lineup once surrendering just a Pauly hit, and faced the minimum nine batters in the initial three innings.
“She’s a really good pitcher, but I think that we were swinging at balls that weren’t strikes necessarily,” Pauly said. “So that second time through we kind of just dug in.”
NU’s ace, Lauren Delaney, kept pace with Bargar. Despite allowing three base-runners in the first two innings, she didn’t allow another one until the seventh when Fighting Irish center fielder Ashley Ellis reached on a wild pitch after striking out.
“I thought she looked terrific (on Tuesday), I’m really pleased with the rhythm she kept out there,” Drohan said. “I thought (catcher Erin) Dyer worked well with her, and I really liked the way she hit her spots.”
Delaney improved her record to 22-6 on the season. She notched 13 strikeouts Tuesday and has now pitched 20 consecutive scoreless innings.
Bargar, on the other hand, did not have one of her best performances. She entered the week ranked 11th in the country in earned run average, and had allowed 18 earned runs all year before the five that crossed the plate Tuesday.
“Bargar does a great job of keeping the ball down,” Drohan said. “We didn’t try to do too much with it. We got a lot of base hit line drives and ground balls up the middle to make it happen.”
That strategy is unusual for NU, which has come to rely on the long ball. The Cats have hit 20 home runs in their 11 previous games. But they could not find a way to put one over the fence against Bargar.
Notre Dame’s ace plowed through NU’s lineup the first time around, and it appeared the team’s offensive woes would continue. The Cats had scored only two runs in its previous series, and it appeared the players came out timid.
“I think just as a team we settled down, I think we came out a little flat in the game,” Delaney said. “We kind of got fired up after the third inning, so we just got into a groove after that I guess.”
The victory gives NU some momentum as it re-enters the Big Ten portion of the schedule, despite a loss to Iowa last Sunday.
“To win a game like this midweek and then get ready for the weekend it just kind of gives you a little lift going to practice tomorrow,” Drohan said. “I’m already excited about practice tomorrow, and that’s good. It helps with that idea of momentum for the team.”