Northwestern swept Purdue in a three-game weekend series on the road in West Lafayette, Indiana. The Wildcats (27-19, 14-7 Big Ten) took on the Boilermakers (32-18, 9-12 Big Ten) at Bittinger Stadium.
On Friday, the ’Cats got off to a scoreless start. The Boilermakers took a commanding 6-0 lead by the second inning.
The ’Cats began to recover from this deficit in the third inning with an RBI double hit into left center from graduate student second baseman Grace Nieto to put NU on the scoreboard. Nieto then scored on a triple by sophomore center fielder Kaylie Avvisato to give the ’Cats their second run.
RBI hits from senior first baseman Kansas Robinson and senior outfielder Kelsey Nader continued an unanswered offensive attack for the ’Cats.
Freshman pitcher Marina Mason’s punch out of Purdue’s Bella Douglas marked her fourth strikeout of the day, fueling the ’Cats’ rally in the fourth inning. Junior Isabel Cunnea grounded out in the bottom half of the fourth and followed with a drive to left field in the sixth inning, bringing the Boilermakers’ lead to one with her solo home run.
To close out the comeback in the seventh inning, junior catcher Emma Raye hit a three-run homer to center field that put NU ahead for its 8-7 win over the Boilermakers.
NU got off to an early start in the first inning on Saturday with an RBI single by Avvisato. Purdue rallied in the bottom half of the first inning to score four runs, but did not add to the board for the remainder of the game.
The ’Cats maintained dominance from the second to the seventh inning, with Purdue facing pitching challenges. A third-inning double from senior infielder Bridget Donahey added another run for NU.
Leading the offense, Donahey added a two-RBI home run to left field in the fifth inning.
Two Purdue errors in the sixth inning worked in the ’Cats’ favor, clearing the bases to extend NU’s lead to 9-4. Nader then hit a single up the middle, adding another run to close out the inning at 10-4.
In the seventh inning, Avvisato delivered a double to secure the final run in the ’Cats’ 11-4 win ahead of Sunday’s final game of the series.
Mason was the core player for NU on Sunday, embarking on her strikeout campaign early with six strikeouts in the first three innings.
It was a dismal fourth inning at the plate for the top of the ’Cats’ lineup, who went three-up, three-down. This trend of slow offense carried into the sixth inning.
With the game still tied 0-0, freshman Teagan McCue hit a single to right field, marking NU’s first hit of the game.
Avvisato and Raye added singles to start the seventh inning. Robinson’s sacrifice bunt advanced two runners to scoring position. Purdue then walked Donahey to load the bases. Nader launched a fly ball to right field, scoring Avvisato on the sacrifice fly to secure the 1-0 win for the ’Cats
Mason’s complete game shutout included a career-high 11 strikeouts, as the National Freshman of the Year Top 25 finalist gave up three hits in her 16th win of the season.
The weekend series sweep extends the ’Cats’ win streak to 10 games, marking the end of their Big Ten road campaign ahead of the conference tournament in May.
NU takes on Minnesota in another three-game weekend series at home, with the first game on Friday at 1 p.m.
Email: [email protected]
X: @Alisande_J
Related Stories:
— Softball: Northwestern evades historic upset, defeats NIU with seventh inning comeback
— Softball: Northwestern extends winning streak over Michigan State to 27 games with weekend sweep
— Softball: Northwestern’s offense comes to life in Penn State sweep
