March 7, 2008

Box Score

FULLERTON, CA - No. 8 Northwestern took advantage of a pair of fielding errors by Cal State Fullerton to plate three unearned runs and sophomore Lauren Delaney scattered just three hits to help lift the Wildcats to a 3-0 victory over the Titans on Friday evening at Anderson Family Field.

The loss was the second straight for Fullerton, which fell to 11-9-1 overall on the season. Northwestern won its fourth straight contest in improving to 12-3 on the year.

Delaney (10-2) allowed a pair of singles and a triple, but stranded all five Titan base runners on the night. She finished with nine strikeouts in the complete-game effort.

Christine Hiner (6-4) suffered her second loss in her last three starts, despite not allowing an earned run over the last 25 innings pitched dating back to the fourth inning of Fullerton's game against Texas Tech on Feb. 29. She allowed eight hits and struck out three on the night.

The Wildcats took advantage of a fielding error in the fourth to plate the game's first run. The rally started when Nicole Pauly led off the inning reaching on an error and moved to third on a sacrifice and a ground ball back to the circle for two outs.

A wild pitch during Jessica Rigas' at-bat then plated Pauly for the 1-0 Northwestern lead.

The Wildcats tacked on two more, again thanks to an error, in the fifth as Tammy Williams, who finished 3-for-4 started the two-out rally with an infield hit. After a walk moved her to second, Williams came all the way around to score when Pauly's potential inning-ending ground ball was kicked away, making it 2-0.

Erin Dyer would add an RBI single to left later in the inning to plate pinch runner Aly Euler for the 3-0 advantage.

Delaney took it from there, allowing only two hits and three base runners over the final three innings - stranding runners in scoring position n the fifth and sixth - to end the game.

Five other Wildcats notched hits on the night. Katie Gollhardt and Lauren Lupinetti had singles for Cal State Fullerton while Jenna Wheeler blooped a ball down the right field line for only the second triple of her career in the fifth inning.

The Titans return to action on Saturday afternoon (March 8) as they take on Rutgers and Notre Dame as part of the Long Beach Invitational. The games will be played at Mayfair Park in Lakewood, Calif.