After two run-rule shortened games in Saturday’s doubleheader, Northwestern and Minnesota made up the lost innings in an eight-inning thriller Sunday.
The first game of the series ended in a 10-2, five-inning Minnesota victory after the Golden Gophers (24-15, 5-7 Big Ten) broke open a 2-2 tie in the fourth inning on leftfielder Erica Meyer’s grand slam.
The Wildcats managed only five base runners for the game while allowing the Golden Gophers to get on base 16 times.
NU (17-22, 5-7) rebounded in the second game, due in large part to a strong pitching performance from junior Meghan Lamberth. The Wildwood, Mo. native tossed a six-inning, three-hit shutout in the 8-0 victory.
“(Lamberth) moves the ball around the zone really well,” coach Kate Drohan said. “(Saturday) she relied a lot on her offspeed.”
Third baseman Marisa Bast hit her team-leading 11th homer of the season in the first inning and the Cats never looked back, scoring one more in the fourth and four in the sixth inning to end the game.
Less than 24 hours later, Lamberth took to the circle again to try to get NU its third straight series win. She pitched five and one-third innings, giving up three runs and seven hits as the Cats lost the hard-fought extra-inning battle, 6-3 in eight innings.
The Cats pitchers kept them in the game, working out of several jams in Sunday’s rubber match. After loading the bases with one out in the top of the third, Lamberth forced right fielder Dannie Skrove to hit a grounder back to the circle, which the hurler turned into a 1-2-3 double play to end the Minnesota threat.
“I’ve been in so many bases-loaded jams this season,” Lamberth said. “I think that really is something that I can lean on, that I’ve gotten out of it before so I just needed to trust my pitches and I got out of it with the double play.”
While Lamberth was keeping the Golden Gophers in check, Minnesota hurler Sara Moulton matched her, allowing only one hit and two runs through the first four innings.
NU relied on its pitcher once again to keep the game close in the top of the sixth inning. Lamberth got the first out before allowing two singles and relinquishing the circle to sophomore Sammy Albanese. After a walk to load the bases, Albanese forced two groundouts to work out of the big jam and keep the game within reach at 3-2.
“I think it was just (that) they saw me all day yesterday, ” Lamberth said. “It was starting to be their seventh or eighth time seeing me, so we just had to change as a team and Sammy came in and shut them down.”
The performance paid off in the next half-inning when designated hitter Amy Letourneau blasted her fifth home run of the season over the center field wall to tie the game.
With 52 errors on the season, the third-most in the Big Ten, NU has let a lot of games slip away. This game was no different, as two errors in the top of the eighth – one by Albanese and one by shortstop Emily Allard – allowed the Golden Gophers to score three runs. NU could not answer in the bottom of the frame and Minnesota got the series victory.
“Games like this, this is typical Big Ten softball,” Drohan said. “We made some really critical defensive plays – turning a double play with the bases loaded to get out of the inning. Then when we had the opportunity again, we didn’t make the play. That’s the difference in the ballgame essentially. Our pitchers did a nice job of pitching some ground balls for us, but we missed our opportunity.”
