Northwestern is used to winning games with home runs.
The Wildcats lead the Big Ten with 79 home runs, and long balls have bailed them out of several close games this year.
This weekend, NU got a taste of its own medicine – it was the home run that did the Cats in.
No. 12 NU was hoping to right the ship against No. 11 Ohio State after losing its first consecutive conference games in more than three years last week at Illinois.
However the Buckeyes’ power proved too much, sweeping the Cats with a 7-6 victory Saturday and a 10-1 run-rule win Sunday. It was the first time since 2003 that the Cats lost four straight conference games.
“We’ve got to stop playing like this,” junior centerfielder Kelly Dyer said. “We’ve got to draw a line and say enough is enough. We’ve just got to play better.”
For the second straight weekend, the story was pitching.
Junior pitcher Lauren Delaney struggled going up against one of the best offenses in the Big Ten. Against an Ohio State team in which no starter is hitting below .240, Delaney surrendered eight earned runs, 15 walks and 12 hits in her nine and one-third innings of work in the circle.
She gave up three long balls, and they all came at crucial moments in the games.
NU (29-13, 12-6 Big Ten) had rallied to within one run of Ohio State in the bottom of the sixth inning, but an Alicia Herron shot over the left field wall put the Buckeyes (42-7, 14-2) ahead by three.
The Cats came close to tying in their half of the seventh, scoring two runs and putting a runner on second with no outs. But freshman Adrienne Monka, sophomore Michelle Batts and junior Nicole Pauly all failed to put the ball in play.
On Sunday, Delaney surrendered her first home run in the second inning, a three-run bomb to right field. She gave up another long ball one inning later, this time a two-run shot to left field.
Coach Kate Drohan pulled Delaney two batters later in favor of sophomore Jessica Smith. While Smith got the Cats out of the inning, she gave up her sixth home run of the year in the fourth – a three-run blast to left field.
“It didn’t go the way we wanted,” said Delaney of the weekend. “But we have the chance to make a good turnaround at the end of the season. Hopefully we will get back here, figure out what’s wrong.”
The offense backed Delaney up in the first game, scoring six runs and pulling within a base hit of tying the game. But on Sunday, a solo shot by Batts was all the Cats could conjure up from the plate.
For seniors Tammy Williams, Erin Dyer, Ashley LaFever and Jessica Rigas, this was not how they imagined their last regular season games at Sharon J. Drysdale Field.
“Senior Day didn’t really turn out as planned,” Williams said. “But it’s another day, we still have a lot more softball to play with this team and we need to focus on that.”
Coming off their worst conference loss in Drohan’s eight years at NU, Williams remains confident the Cats can get back on track.
“There’s no excuse for what we’re doing,” Williams said. “And we’re going to fix it.”
