Badgers' Seventh-Inning Rally Falls Short
April 19, 2003 | Softball
The Wisconsin softball team scored three runs in the bottom of the seventh inning with two outs to pull within one of host Northwestern, but fell 6-5, Saturday afternoon at the Sharon J. Drysdale Field in Evanston, Ill. The Badgers fall to 14-21 overall, 3-9 Big Ten.
Down 6-2, freshman Emily Friedman cracked a bases-loaded hit into the right center field gap with two outs in the bottom of the seventh to clear the bases. Liles started the rally by firing a double down the left field line with one out Boo Gillette walked and Erin Barnharst singled to load the bases for Friedman.
Northwestern loaded the bases with three-straight hits to open the game and took a 1-0 lead with a sacrifice fly by Cindy Muran. With runners on second and third and Brett Nakabayashi on third inching for home, Boo Gillette's heady play caught Nakabayashi between home and third in a run down. After one back-and-forth, Zacher received a pass from Gillette and applied the tag to Nakabayshi for the second out. Jamie Dotson grounded out to Katie Layne to end the inning.
NU put a run on the board in the second and third innings with a couple of doubles. In the second a leadoff double helped NU to a 2-0 lead, while in the third, a one-out double led to a 3-0 Wildcat edge. Northwestern added its fourth and fifth runs in the top of the fifth and sixth innings, respectively. NU's Muran hit what would be the game-winning home run in the top of the seventh to give Northwestern its crucial sixth run.
The Badgers got on the scoreboard in the bottom of the fifth inning. Diana Consolmagno led off the inning with a sharp liner into left center field. Consolmagno took second on the hit and moved to third on a ground out by Kaitlin Reiss. Natalie Philips was plunked and with runners on the corners, Kris Zacher batted a ball to the shortstop. Ashley Crane bobbled the ball and Philips advanced safely, Zacher took first and Consolmagno scored.
Erin Barnharst got the Badgers' first hit of the day, a bloop single into shallow right field in the fourth inning, and tallied a run in the sixth with her team-high fourth home run. Barnharst stepped to the plate with one out in the sixth and sent a pitch over the right center field wall to make it 5-2. UW continued to threaten with Emily Friedman following with a double to the center field warning track, but two ground outs ended the inning.
The Badgers travel to Illinois this afternoon to take on the Illini in a doubleheader Sunday at noon.
