Even after Northwestern dropped three games in its recent road trip to California and another to Central Michigan during its first contest of the Cardinal Classic in Louisville, Kentucky, Friday, junior infielder Kansas Robinson said she wasn’t concerned about the team’s rocky start.
“I don’t pay attention to the rankings,” Robinson said. “It’s still really early in the season, and we’re just always focused on the next game.”
In their fourth weekend of their nonconference slate, the Wildcats (9-9, 0-0 Big Ten) bounced back from a 4-2 Friday loss to the Chippewas (2-8, 0-0 MAC) with three straight wins to close out the weekend.
Sophomore pitchers Riley Grudzielanek and Renae Cunningham split time in the circle in NU’s lone defeat of the weekend. Following a scoreless first inning for both teams, Grudzielanek conceded two Chippewa runs on three hits in the top of the second before Cunningham took the reins with two outs.
Sophomore outfielder Isabel Cunnea cut the lead in half in the bottom of the frame when she led off with her first homerun of the season.
While the Chippewas tacked on an additional run in both the third and fourth innings, NU scored just once more when junior outfielder Kelsey Nader hit an RBI groundout following back-to-back hits by Robinson and freshman infielder Kaylie Avvisato.
The ’Cats rallied back from their weekend opening loss with a 9-1 run-rule victory over Longwood Friday afternoon.
After graduate student pitcher Lauren Boyd shut the Lancers (5-12, 0-0 Big South) down in the top of the first, a 2-run Robinson shot got NU on the board before Cunnea followed junior infielder Bridget Donahey’s double with a hit of her own to tack on another run.
Cunnea was one of three players — alongside Nader and Donahey — to record a multi-hit game, batting in three of the team’s nine total runs.
NU capitalized on four Longwood fielding errors to cruise to a convincing win.
The following afternoon, coach Kate Drohan’s squad beat the Lancers once again, this time in slightly more competitive fashion. The ’Cats jumped out to a seven-run lead in the first inning and ultimately won 10-5.
Longwood’s defensive woes carried over into Saturday’s game immediately as senior infielder Grace Nieto led off the game by reaching on an error. NU sent 12 batters to the plate in the first inning alone, launching five hits, two walks and two stolen bases to amass an early advantage.
Freshman pitcher Emma Blea earned her first career start in the contest, recording a 1-2-3 first frame. But she conceded four runs on three hits before Grudzielanek took over in the circle.
Three more NU runs came across in the sixth on a Cunnea RBI single and two runs scored on an error.
In their final contest of the weekend, the ’Cats edged out Louisville 5-1 Sunday, plating all of their runs in a four-run fifth inning as Nader doubled and Avvisato brought her home on a 2-run shot.
Boyd earned the complete-game win, conceding just five hits and two walks while racking up a career-high 11 strikeouts.
Following three-straight wins, Drohan said she was proud of her team’s resiliency in a challenging first month of play.
“We’re learning a lot more about combinations and how we want to define what success looks like for us, but I think we’re always a work in progress,” Drohan said.
Following nearly two weeks off, NU will head to Oklahoma City for its first Big Ten action, where it will play two games apiece against Penn State and Michigan State.
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