Despite going only 1-for-5 at the plate in Wednesday’s doubleheader against Iowa, senior shortstop Tammy Williams scored four runs. That had much to do with others in the lineup stepping up, headed by freshman infielder Adrienne Monka, who went 4-for-4 with seven RBIs in game two. Ray Whitehouse/The Daily Northwestern
With No. 10 Northwestern’s stacked lineup, Emily Haug might not expect to be at the plate with the game on the line.
After subbing in for Robin Thompson in the ninth inning of game one of Wednesday’s doubleheader, that’s exactly where Haug found herself.
With a full count and a runner on third, the junior fouled off a pitch. Then another.
Then the pinch hitter delivered, smoking a liner towards second base that bounced off the glove of Iowa’s Chelsey Carmody. By the time Aly Euler scored, the Wildcats (25-8, 11-1 Big Ten) were already climbing out of the dugout to celebrate the 6-5 victory.
Haug was 0-for-7 since hitting a home run against Oklahoma on March 7, while Amanda Zust had no-hit the Cats in her first three and one-third innings in the circle. But to her coach and teammates, the outcome was inevitable.
“It’s always the right call to bring in Emily Haug,” coach Kate Drohan said. “We get pretty excited when she gets into the game.”
They had reason to be, since Haug knew what she had to do.
“My job was easy,” Haug said. “Get a base hit, and take care of it for the team so we could move on to game two.”
Haug and the team did just that. By winning a topsy-turvy battle that saw the Cats burst open a tied game with a four-run fifth, only to give it all back, NU took all the momentum into the nightcap.
The Cats bombarded the Hawkeyes (33-11, 5-5), jumping out to a 6-1 lead in the first inning and adding six more runs in the third. Although Zust entered the game with a 1.28 earned-run average, and Brittany Weil, who started the first game and relieved Zust in the second, came into Wednesday with a 0.96 ERA after throwing a one-hitter on Saturday, the Cats pounced on the pair for a 16-5 run rule victory.
“We had the momentum going from the first game, and we kept it going into the second game,” freshman infielder Adrienne Monka said. “We just came out fighting from the first pitch.”
After jacking a three-run shot to give NU a 4-1 lead in the fifth inning of the first game, Monka was unconscious in the nightcap. She went 4-for-4. with a two-run double in the third and her 12th homer of the year, a grand slam in the fourth. She finished with seven runs batted during the curtailed five-inning game.
“Adrienne Monka is a pretty consistent player,” Drohan said. “Every day when she comes to practice, every day when she comes to the ballpark, she just swings her hardest.”
The team enjoyed clutch hitting in the first game and non-stop hitting in the second, but had its troubles in the circle. Junior hurler Lauren Delaney gave up 10 runs, nine earned, and walked 22 on a day where she had difficulty finding the plate.
“We clearly gave them too many baserunners,” Drohan said. “That’s one area in our game we need to clean up”
Luckily for her, the team also scored 22 runs.
“That’s got to help the pitcher,” Haug said. “Knowing that she can give up a run or two and we can come back and we’re going to fight.”
