By Josh Walfish
the daily northwestern
For a second consecutive year, Northwestern will not be in the NCAA Tournament.
The Wildcats (23-20, 5-13 Big Ten) made the postseason from 2003 to 2009, but NU was not among the 64 teams announced Sunday night in the NCAA Championships. For the first time under coach Kate Drohan, NU finished with a losing record in Big Ten play. The Cats finished the 2011 season by getting swept by Penn State (29-22-1, 11-8-1) on Friday and Saturday, despite two of their better offensive performances in recent weeks.
NU got its hitting going early in Friday’s 6-3 loss, manufacturing two runs to take a 2-0 lead. The Cats got five base knocks in the first three innings but left four runners on base. Sophomore Emily Allard went 2-for-3 on the day and scored two of the three runs.
“We just went out there and we did what we could,” Allard said. “We were disciplined at the plate and hit good pitches.”
Senior Jessica Smith continued her solid play from the Indiana series in the first three innings against the Nittany Lions. She gave up only a leadoff single in the bottom of the first but didn’t allow another Penn State batter to reach base and looked to be on her way to another solid performance.
The wheels came off for the Cats in the fourth inning. Penn State sent 11 batters to the plate and cranked out six runs, chasing Smith after 3.1 innings. The Nittany Lions picked up four of their six hits of the day in the inning and worked three walks to help keep the inning going.
“We just need to do a better job of controlling the moment,” Allard said.
The Cats put up another valiant fight in Saturday’s 3-2 loss. After falling behind 1-0, NU fought back to tie it in the top of the third only to have Penn State score one in the bottom of the frame. The Cats responded again to tie it in the fourth, but a Lauren Rossi homer off freshman Sammy Albanese in the bottom of the inning proved to be the difference.
Senior left fielder Jordan Wheeler was 2-for-3 in her final collegiate game. Senior third baseman Robin Thompson also ended her career strongly with a 2-for-3 performance that included an RBI.
Allard said the seniors will be a huge loss to the team but that it was an opportunity for others to step up and fill their roles.
“They’ve done unspeakable things for this program both on and off the field,” Allard said. “They brought a lot of leadership, and that allows people to really step up.”
This season several school records fell despite NU playing its fewest regular season games in nine years. Junior first baseman Adrienne Monka surpassed her own school mark of 48 walks set last year, finishing the season with 66. Her 1.54 walks per game is the second-highest rate in NCAA history. She also bested Tammy Williams’ school record .538 on-base percentage with a superhuman-like .707 mark – unofficially the second-best in Division I history. Allard and Monka both surpassed Williams’ batting average record of .448, with Allard’s .491 becoming the new high, while Monka hit .461.
