Five games in three days meant that No. 13 Northwestern had time to focus on only one thing while in Las Vegas: playing softball.
NU finished 4-1 in the Louisville Slugger Desert Classic, moving to 6-3 for the season.
Junior Lauren Delaney pitched 26 of the team’s 32 innings over the weekend.
“It’s definitely hard throwing that many innings at this level, but maybe the bigger challenge is on the mental side of the game,” Delaney said. “Separating the games from each other, being ready for every pitch in every inning.”
But the bigger story was NU’s hitting. A week after a 2-1 extra innings loss to No. 23 Nevada, the Wildcats spread 41 runs over the five games.
“Our whole team was hitting well,” senior shortstop Tammy Williams said. “I don’t know how many home runs we had, but it was a lot.”
To be exact, the Cats smacked 13 homers. Williams contributed two, catcher Erin Dyer hit two, and first baseman Adrienne Monka hit the first four of her career.
“It’s just good to go in and feel comfortable in there and play like I know how to play,” said Monka, a freshman. “I was really nervous my first weekend, really tentative. But this weekend I felt really comfortable.”
In the first matchup of the weekend, NU cruised to a 6-2 win against Hawaii, thanks to a three-run outburst in the first inning.
Next came No. 4 UCLA in the second game of the doubleheader. In a 2 1/2 hour struggle that featured three lead changes, NU eventually fell 16-10. NU leapt out to a 5-0 lead but UCLA roared back for the win, pounding Delaney for 14 runs, including 12 earned.
The next afternoon brought a 5-2 victory over Oregon and a 12-4 victory over Southern Utah that earned Kelly Dyer her first collegiate win as a pitcher after converting part-time from the outfield to help spell Delaney. The Cats fell behind 4-2, but they pulled away with a 10-run fourth inning, causing the game to end after five innings on the run rule.
On Sunday, NU beat Cal State Fullerton 8-2 behind three home runs, including two from Erin Dyer.
“Obviously we started out the weekend wanting to go 5-0,” Williams said. “But 4-1 is a pretty good record.”
