University of Illinois
#11 Northwestern
Northwestern takes Illinois, 4-1
May 12, 2006 | Softball
May 12, 2006
Evanston, Ill. - Top seed Northwestern eliminated No. 8 Illinois from the Big Ten Softball Tournament Friday with a 4-1 victory at Sharon J. Drysdale Field in Evanston. The Wildcats improve to 41-11 overall and advance to tomorrow's semifinals. Illinois finishes the 2006 season 24-31.
"We made a few adjustments from last week and I think fought hard, but couldn't put together a good enough game to beat a quality team like Northwestern," said Illinois Head Coach Terri Sullivan after her team lost to the Wildcats for the third straight game. "I've also thought clutch hits should count for more in a batting average, and we just couldn't get enough of those today."
Northwestern's Sheila McCorkle delivered a two-out single, scoring Garland Cooper to make it 1-0 in the first inning. In the second Ashley Crane delivered a lead-off home run over the left-center field fence to extend the lead to 2-0.
After being shutout twice last weekend against Northwestern's pitching duo of Eileen Canney and Courtnay Foster, Illinois had several chances against Canney on this day. The Illini had a base runner in every inning but the first and seventh and left eight runners on base.
Illinois had runners at second and third and nobody out in the top of the seventh, but the First Team All-Big Ten Canney struck out the side, three of her 10 Ks on the day.
The Illini came within an eyelash of tying the game in the third inning, as Angelena Mexicano's towering fly to left with a runner on base was held in the park enough for left fielder Katie Logan to make the play on the warning track.
Illinois got its first hit with a one-out single from Kisten Martin in the fourth and Molly Lawhead reached on the second Canney error of the day putting two runners on base, but again the Illini couldn't come up with the big hit.
Northwestern extended its lead with a two-run double from Cooper in the bottom of the fourth making it 4-0 before the Illini used three straight singles from Rachelle Coriddi, Jenna Hall, and Mexicano to get on the board in the top of the fifth. The run ended a streak of 21 straight scoreless innings for Canney and gave Mexicano 49 RBI for the year.
After a lead-off walk to Lawhead in the sixth, Canney retired the final six batters she faced, three on strikeouts. Jenna Hall's bid to end her illustrious career with a base hit was snagged by a diving Crane at second who threw Hall out by a step.
"I can't say enough about Jenna, Rachelle, and Laura Zobrist," Sullivan on her seniors playing their final games in an Illinois uniform. "Jenna is the best player to ever put on an Illinois uniform. She performed well today with a lot of pressure on her. Rachelle has been a great lead-off for us for four years and made a nice catch in center field. Laura was a great role player and just a pleasure to coach. We got great leadership from our seniors today."
