After dropping two games to Michigan and another to DePaul, Northwestern made the trip to Happy Valley last week motivated, looking to right the ship with a statement win over Penn State. And that they did, as the Wildcats (23-19, 11-7 Big Ten) easily dispatched the Nittany Lions to the tune of a 29-run disparity in the weekend sweep.

So when NU returned to Rosemont this past weekend to face a struggling Spartans (15-28, 2-15 Big Ten) team, it came back with some added wind in its sails. Further aided by an unexpected few days of rest after their midweek game against Notre Dame was postponed due to inclement weather, the momentum didn’t dampen the ’Cats’ stride.

With its fourth run-rule victory in the last five games, NU sent the Spartans packing, claiming the series sweep and extending their win streak versus Michigan State to 27 games , its longest active streak versus another program.

The first of the three bouts was a knockout. Led by a dominant performance from freshman pitcher Marina Mason, the ’Cats nearly no-hit the Spartans.

An infield single in the fourth inning was Michigan State’s lone knock of the evening. Mason struck out five batters and retired another 10 in a hurry, tossing less than 80 pitches in the five-inning complete-game shutout.

With the reigning Big Ten Player of the Week on its side, NU had no issue getting on the board. 

Against the Nittany Lions, junior catcher Emma Raye had a series for the ages, going a combined 9-for-11 with two long balls across three different three-hit games, driving in six runs and scoring another seven herself. Versus Michigan State, Raye nearly did it again.

Her RBI-double in the first inning of Friday’s tilt opened the weekend’s onslaught, and NU rallied behind her. By the end of the second inning, Raye had tripled as well — one of three ’Cats to do so on the day — and NU led by seven runs.

The ’Cats tacked on another run in the third and two more in the fourth, and the batting barrage may have very well continued, if not for NU’s 10-0 lead through four and a half innings triggering the run rule.

Soon after the teams reconvened Saturday afternoon, it looked like game two would be a repeat of the first. Through two innings, the Spartans had one hit, Raye had already completed her weekend cycle with a three-run jack and an RBI-single and NU held a 6-0 lead.

Michigan State, however, finally found its footing. After notching six hits off junior pitcher Riley Grudzielanek in the next two frames, the Spartans climbed back within one. A lead-off double in the fifth inning would end Grudzielanek’s day, but the Spartans squandered their chance to tie the game.

Positioned well with runners on the corners and no outs, Michigan State tried its hand at drawing up a double-steal opportunity, but the ’Cats sniffed it out almost immediately.

With senior shortstop Bridget Donahey diagnosing the action, four pin-point throws throughout the infield, and a diving effort by freshman third baseman Tru Medina to place a tag during the ensuing pickle, NU cleared both Spartans from the basepaths.

Michigan State’s miscues ultimately proved too much for its sudden resurgence at the plate to overcome. The Spartans’ 12 hits Saturday were the most by either team in any of the weekend’s contests, but they were dwarfed by the eight left-on-base and six error tallies beside them in the box score.

After allowing four unearned runs Friday, Michigan State conceded five Saturday. The Spartans managed to tie the game in the sixth inning, but threw the game away with back-to-back throwing errors a half-inning later.

With a single from sophomore center fielder Kaylie Avvisato as their only hit in the bottom of the sixth, the ’Cats scored the go-ahead run. Following a lineout, the Spartans’ first error advanced Avvisato to second, and with the second — a throw away on a sacrifice bunt from the next batter — she rounded third and scored.

Down to their final three outs, the Spartans cashed in on one with a bunt of their own to move a runner to third. But with Mason in the circle for the ’Cats, that’s as far as the Spartans would get, 60 feet short from closing the 8-7 gap.

Mason returned to the circle to start Sunday’s finale, and with another commanding performance to come, she wound up not leaving. The five-inning complete game shutout, her second of the series, brought her total to five on the season.

Allowing only five hits through 11.2 innings of work during the series, including the two-hit outing on Sunday, Mason brought her opponents’ batting average against her down to a paltry .181, the lowest mark among qualified pitchers in the Big Ten. Her performance also garnered some hardware, with Mason bringing Big Ten Pitcher of the Week honors back with her to Evanston.

With NU at the plate, it was a similar story — its highest achiever of the weekend performing well once again to carry their season stats to new heights.

For the ’Cats’ bats, that meant another first-inning home run from Raye. A career-high 12th long ball drove in her eighth and ninth runs against the Spartans, bringing her RBI total to 50 on the season and pushing her individual scoring output from the series above Michigan State’s for good.

Up four in the bottom of the fifth, NU rallied to double its score, ending the Spartans weekend trip to Chicago two innings early.

Two runs came off the bat of Donahey on her career-high ninth home run of the season. The next came on Michigan State’s ninth error of the series, when a throw from shortstop to first missed the mark, allowing sophomore designated player Avery Garden to reach on a fielder’s choice and senior right fielder Kelsey Nader to score from third.

As Garden stood safely on first, all it took was a double from Medina to send her home, walking the game off with the ’Cats lead reaching eight before the end of the fifth.

With a sixth straight win under its belt, NU embarks on a short Midwest road trip, facing Northern Illinois on Tuesday before taking on Purdue in West Lafayette, Indiana, over the weekend.

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