In mid-April against No. 23 Iowa, Emily Haug and Aly Euler sat for eight-and-a-half innings.
They watched their team take a lead. They watched them blow it. Twice.
Then, coach Kate Drohan called upon them in a pinch. With the score tied at five in the bottom of the ninth, Euler ran for Kelly Quinn at third, and Haug came up to the plate to replace Robin Thompson.
Sure enough, the juniors delivered in tandem. Haug drove Euler home with a walk-off pinch-hit past second base for the Northwestern victory.
“They need to be able to execute under pressure,” Drohan said of the pair. “It takes a special skill to be able to slow the game down. They’re in for one play, or one inning, and both of them really excel in that situation.”
Ever since Haug established her pinch-hit prowess with a three-run seventh-inning walkoff against Minnesota last year – her first career home run – she has shown a knack for coming through in the clutch.
“I kind of think I thrive on pressure,” Haug said. “I like the challenge. It’s fun for me.”
Now, pinch-hitting is pretty much the only time she gets to bat. Of Haug’s 28 at-bats this season, 24 of them have come as a pinch-hitter. And she has capitalized on her opportunities, boasting a .367 career average and .500 on-base percentage in those situations, higher than her .340 lifetime average.
“Usually, in those types of situations, everybody has already done the work for me,” Haug said. “For me, all I have to do is put it in play.”
She’s done just that.
Last weekend against Ohio State, Haug subbed in for Jordan Wheeler with the team down three runs. Leading off seventh inning, Haug did her job by delivering a single right back up the middle and giving NU a chance to win. Her pinch-runner ended up scoring in the 7-6 loss.
“Our team has so much faith in her,” Drohan said. “We get excited for those opportunities because obviously, more times than not she’s come through.”
With entrenched starters Erin Dyer and Michelle Batts filling NU’s catcher and designated player positions, Haug has had little choice but to come off the bench.
“I realize that that’s what I’m going to need to do for the team right now,” Haug said. “That’s going to help us win games.”
While Haug has been helping the Cats at the plate, Euler’s specialty is her work on the basepaths.
Listed as an outfielder on the roster, Euler has only had to pick up her glove once this season. She is 1-for-4 at the plate in three seasons at NU, but has stolen 22 bases and scored 47 runs in her duties as a pinch-runner.
“She can turn a single into a double pretty quickly for us,” Drohan said. “Robin Thompson might beat her in a footrace, but she’s an excellent base runner. She takes great angles, and reads the ball well.”
Euler fulfills NU’s need for speed when sluggers like Adrienne Monka and Michelle Batts reach first base.
“We have such a great hitting team, that to bring in speed too with that power really helps,” Euler said.
While Euler and Haug might not play the entire game, when the team needs something at a key moment in the game, Drohan knows who she should rely on.
“If we’re down a run or two going to the sixth or seventh innings, we can use them,” Drohan said. “They’re game-changers.”
