May 26, 2007
EVANSTON, Ill. – The second-seeded Northwestern Wildcats (50-11) belted three solo home runs, including two by Nicole Pauly, to establish a 3-0 win over the South Carolina Gamecocks (38-26) at the Northwestern NCAA Super Regional Saturday. With the win, the Wildcats advance to the Women’s College World Series in Oklahoma City, while the Gamecocks’ season has come to an end.
“I think Northwestern did what they had to do. We’re disappointed, but I don’t think anyone thought we’d be sitting here today,” said head coach Joyce Compton. “I think all year we played the top teams in our conference pitch for pitch and even though we couldn’t get the victories in those games, if we would have had fifteen more hits, we’d have fifteen more wins. We could have cashed it in, but we never did that. The team always felt they could win when they walked on the field.”
Eileen Canney earned the victory as she improved to 31-9 on the season. Canney held the Gamecocks to just two hits for the second straight game, and struck out 10 batters in seven innings pitched. Melissa Hendon recorded the loss for the Gamecocks and finished her season 20-19. She gave up the three runs on eight hits in seven innings pitched. Ashton Payne and McKenna Hughes posted the two hits for South Carolina. Hughes singled up the middle in the first and Payne’s hit came in the fifth. For Northwestern, Garland Cooper, Pauly and Darcy Sengewald each went 2-for-3 at the plate.
Northwestern’s took the lead in the second inning when Pauly led off with a long ball over the right center field wall. Despite the home run, the Gamecocks were able to get the next the batters out in order, including two strikeouts.
The Wildcats threatened to put more runs on the board in the fourth when they led off with back-to-back singles by Tammy Williams and Garland Cooper. After pinch runner Aly Euler stole second to put both runners in scoring position with one out, Hendon buckled down and was able to get out of the jam with a pop fly and a strike out and stranded the Wildcat runners.
The Gamecocks had a chance to score in the fifth when Ashton Payne hit a one-out triple to left field and put South Carolina in position to put a run on the board. The Gamecocks were unsuccessful in driving in the run however as a groundout and a strikeout ended the inning with the shutout still in tact for the Wildcats. Prior to the hit, Canney had retired 11 straight batters, including six strikeouts in that span. The triple was the fifth of the season for Payne, making her the first Gamecock player since 1999 to record that many in a single season.
Northwestern added salt to the wound as they hit back-to-back solo home runs by Cooper and Pauly and extended its lead to 3-0 in the sixth inning. It marked the second home run of the game for Pauley.
Canney continued control the Gamecocks as she stifled their bats in the last two innings and recorded six straight outs, including three strikeouts, to clinch the win and end South Carolina’s season.
With the season concluded, this also marks the final game for Hughes. She closes out her career as South Carolina’s all-time home run leader (33) and single season home run leader (11).
“The thing I liked most about this team is that we never gave up,” said Hughes.
