The Wildcats picked the wrong time to commit errors against Notre Dame on Wednesday, and the Fighting Irish made them pay.
Northwestern made two errors in both the first and fifth innings and was unable to overcome its four defensive miscues in a 9-1 run-rule loss to Notre Dame in five innings.
“I don’t know if it’s a lack of aggressiveness or a lack of focus,” coach Kate Drohan said, “but we are certainly underachieving defensively. We need to get that competitive fire.”
Notre Dame (18-10, 3-0 Big East) jumped out to a 5-0 advantage after the first inning, helped by two NU errors, both from senior first baseman Adrienne Monka. The Fighting Irish had three hits in the inning, including a two-run home run by freshman third baseman Katey Haus, but all five runs in the inning were unearned. The inning also included a wild pitch from starter Meghan Lamberth that allowed the runner to advance to third and subsequently score the game’s first run on an error.
The Cats (14-19, 2-4 Big Ten) had a small answer to start the second inning in the form of a home run from sophomore Marisa Bast to center field. However, they managed only two more base runners for the rest of the game.
After two singles to start the bottom of the second, Drohan called upon freshman Amy Letourneau to replace Lamberth in the circle. Both runners eventually scored, giving Lamberth a final line of five hits and seven runs allowed, but only two of those runs were earned.
“I just need to work on, when we’re facing an aggressive team, just keep working on my pitches and maybe move the pitches a little bit more,” Lamberth said.
Fittingly, it was two NU errors that ended the game. After extending the lead to seven runs in the fourth, the Fighting Irish began the bottom of the fifth with a single and a walk. Knowing that one more Notre Dame run would end the game, Drohan pulled Letourneau for a fresh pitcher, sophomore Sammy Albanese. The next batter sliced the ball back to Albanese, who tried to get the lead runner out. However, Bast could not handle the throw at third, and every runner was safe. With the bases loaded and no outs, Notre Dame right fielder Kelsey Thornton hit the ball to shortstop Emily Allard, who couldn’t handle it, allowing the run to score.
NU finished the game with only two hits, none in the last two innings.
“All the way up and down the lineup, one through nine, we just didn’t make adjustments off of (Notre Dame pitcher Laura Winter’s) pitches,” Bast said. “She only had 10 walks on the year, so we should have swung at more strikes and been a little bit more aggressive.”
The Cats will have to regroup before a weekend home series against conference opponent Iowa, which begins Saturday.
“I think that this was a good learning opportunity for us,” Bast said. “Now we know a lot of things that we need to work on defensively – pitching, hitting, everything – and we’re just looking to make those adjustments as we move into the weekend.”
