Friday, April 26
East Lansing, Mich.
6:00 PM ET
Michigan State University
15-30, 0
4
vs
10
Northwestern
39-7, 0
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
R
H
E
Northwestern
0
1
0
9
0
0
0
10
9
1
Michigan State
0
0
1
2
0
0
1
4
8
3
Team Stats
Pitching:
W: Wilkey, Kenna (10-3)
L: Gregory, McKenna (4-12)
Batting:
2B: Lewis, Rachel 1
3B: Novak, Lily 1
HR: Wilkey, Kenna 1
RBI: Lewis, Rachel 1 ; Nelson, Maeve 1 ; Cuchran, Nikki 1 ; Newport, Morgan 1 ; Novak, Lily 3 ; Wilkey, Kenna 2 ; Shellmyer, Skyler 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Lewis, Rachel 1 ; Nelson, Maeve 1 ; Cuchran, Nikki 1 ; Rudd, Jordyn 1 ; Newport, Morgan 1 ; Novak, Lily 2 ; Wilkey, Kenna 1 ; Shellmyer, Skyler 2
Batting:
2B: Echols, Charla 1
HR: Eveland, Kaitlyn 1
RBI: Ladd, Caitie 1 ; Echols, Charla 1 ; Eveland, Kaitlyn 2
Base Running:
RUNS: Ladd, Caitie 1 ; Meech, Mackenzie 1 ; Eveland, Kaitlyn 1 ; Bartz, Joanna 1
Game Leaders
AB
4
R
1
H
3
RBI
0
AB
3
R
1
H
1
RBI
1
AB
3
R
0
H
1
RBI
1
AB
2
R
0
H
1
RBI
0
Players Mentioned
3B/C
/ SoftballOF
/ SoftballC/3B
/ Softball
3B
/ Softball
RHP
/ Softball
1B
/ Softball
SS/UTL
/ SoftballSS/UTL
/ Softball1B/UTL
/ Softball
RHP
/ Softball
P
/ Softball
DP
/ Softball
Big Inning Dooms Spartans vs. Northwestern
4/26/2019 10:38:00 PM | Softball
Spartans fall to NU, 10-4
SPARTAN SYNOPSIS
A nine-run fourth inning for Northwestern was the difference in Friday night's ballgame, as the Spartans fell to the visitors by a 10-4 score.Â
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The teams were tied at 1-1 through three innings, with an RBI double by Charla Echols tying the game in the bottom of the third after Northwestern got on the board with a run in the top of the second.Â
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In the fourth for NU, the rally started with one out, and the Wildcats got two runs across before the Spartans got Maeve Nelson caught in a rundown after a great throw in from right field by Laney Joyner. With two outs, an intentional walk and another free pass led to the Wildcats taking a 4-1 lead. Northwestern scored five more runs – all with two outs – to put the game out of reach.Â
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The Spartans, however, never rolled over – Kaitlyn Eveland led off the next inning with her eighth homer of the season and Caitie Ladd knocked in another run to make it 10-3, and then NU pitcher Kenna Wilkey walked in another run for MSU in the bottom of the seventh after giving up two base hits and walking two others.Â
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MacKenzie Meech tied her career best with three base hits, and was the only Spartan with multiple hits on the night. Eveland had a pair of RBI on her solo homer and bases-loaded walk in the seventh inning, her 28th free pass of the season. Courtney Callahan had her first career base hit, and Charla Echols' double  extended her hitting streak to nine games.Â
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Maeve Nelson was 3-for-5 on the night, while Lily Novak had three RBI on a triple. Kenna Wiley helped her own cause in the circle with a 2-for-4 performance at the plate, which included a two-run homer in the fourth. In the circle, she struck out a career- best 13 while scattering eight hits.
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The remaining schedule in this series has been altered due to an inclement weather forecast for Sunday. The two teams will now play a Saturday doubleheader starting at 12 noon to complete  their three-game Big Ten series. Senior Lexi White will be honored with her Senior Day before the first game.Â
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QUOTABLE
"I'm proud that our players never gave up. McKenna Gregory gave us a quality start and Alli Walker did a really nice job of settling in and keeping Northwestern off the board after that big inning. We struggled to get out of the fourth, but we came right back and scored in the bottom of the inning, and kept our composure. Our pitchers have had a rough go lately, but today should hopefully be a big step forward with their confidence – that they can bounce back. I'm looking forward to seeing us continue that tomorrow."
TOP PERFORMERS
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STATS AND STORYLINES
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A nine-run fourth inning for Northwestern was the difference in Friday night's ballgame, as the Spartans fell to the visitors by a 10-4 score.Â
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The teams were tied at 1-1 through three innings, with an RBI double by Charla Echols tying the game in the bottom of the third after Northwestern got on the board with a run in the top of the second.Â
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In the fourth for NU, the rally started with one out, and the Wildcats got two runs across before the Spartans got Maeve Nelson caught in a rundown after a great throw in from right field by Laney Joyner. With two outs, an intentional walk and another free pass led to the Wildcats taking a 4-1 lead. Northwestern scored five more runs – all with two outs – to put the game out of reach.Â
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The Spartans, however, never rolled over – Kaitlyn Eveland led off the next inning with her eighth homer of the season and Caitie Ladd knocked in another run to make it 10-3, and then NU pitcher Kenna Wilkey walked in another run for MSU in the bottom of the seventh after giving up two base hits and walking two others.Â
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MacKenzie Meech tied her career best with three base hits, and was the only Spartan with multiple hits on the night. Eveland had a pair of RBI on her solo homer and bases-loaded walk in the seventh inning, her 28th free pass of the season. Courtney Callahan had her first career base hit, and Charla Echols' double  extended her hitting streak to nine games.Â
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Maeve Nelson was 3-for-5 on the night, while Lily Novak had three RBI on a triple. Kenna Wiley helped her own cause in the circle with a 2-for-4 performance at the plate, which included a two-run homer in the fourth. In the circle, she struck out a career- best 13 while scattering eight hits.
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The remaining schedule in this series has been altered due to an inclement weather forecast for Sunday. The two teams will now play a Saturday doubleheader starting at 12 noon to complete  their three-game Big Ten series. Senior Lexi White will be honored with her Senior Day before the first game.Â
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QUOTABLE
"I'm proud that our players never gave up. McKenna Gregory gave us a quality start and Alli Walker did a really nice job of settling in and keeping Northwestern off the board after that big inning. We struggled to get out of the fourth, but we came right back and scored in the bottom of the inning, and kept our composure. Our pitchers have had a rough go lately, but today should hopefully be a big step forward with their confidence – that they can bounce back. I'm looking forward to seeing us continue that tomorrow."
- Head Coach Jacquie Joseph
TOP PERFORMERS
- MacKenzie Meech tied her season best with three base hits.
- Kaitlyn Eveland hit her team-best eighth homer of the season and had a pair of RBI.
- Charla Echols hit her 14th double of the season.
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STATS AND STORYLINES
- Northwestern got on the board in the top of the second. A two-out walk to Lily Novak was followed by a single to left by the pitcher Kenna Wilkey, and an infield error allowed Skyler Shellmyer to reach and Novak to come around and score. After an intentional walk of Rachel Lewis, Morgan Nelson flied out to center to get the Spartans out of the inningÂ
- MSU got its offense going in the bottom of the third. Caitie Ladd drew a one-out walk, and Charla Echols laced a double down the right field line that allowed Ladd to come around to score and knot the score at 1-1. MacKenzie Meech singled up the middle to put runners at the corners, but Wilkie got a pair of strikeouts to end the inning.
- Northwestern loaded the bases in the top of the fourth with one out, getting two walks around a Shellmyer single to center. Maeve Nelson singled into center to push a run across and give Northwestern the lead back. A single by Nikki Cuchran brought home a second run in the inning, but a strong throw in from Laney Joyner in right forced Lewis back to third, and Maeve Nelson was caught in a rundown with nowhere to go as Cuchran took second on the throw.  MSU opted to intentionally walk Rudd to load the bases, and Newport drew a walk on a full count to force home another run and make it 4-1. The Spartans went to the bullpen, bringing on Leah Shipp. She was greeted with a bases-clearing triple and a two-run homer, pushing the NU lead out to 9-1. Another pitching change for the Spartans brought Alli Walker into the circle. She walked Shellmeyer in her second at-bat of the inning, who moved to second on a wild pitch and came home on a double by Rachel Lewis to make the visitor lead 10-1.
- The Spartans were quick to come back with some offense in the bottom of the fourth. Kaitlyn Eveland led it off with a solo homer, her team-leading eighth of the season and 25th of her career. Katelyn Hendershott followed with a single to left, and was replaced on the basepaths by pinch runner Joanna Bartz. With two out, Caitie Ladd singled to right and made it all the way to third on a fielding error, which plated Bartz to cut it down to 10-3.Â
- That big inning for the Wildcats would be the end of their runs in the game. Walker settled in and did not allow another NU player to cross the plate, striking out three in her final three innings of work.Â
- MSU only had one hit in the fifth and sixth innings – a single by Meech – but got a two-out rally going in the bottom of the seventh, started with a two-out single by Meech, her third hit of the game. Courtney Callahan, who came on in center field and made an impressive catch in the sixth, followed Meech with a single, her first collegiate base hit. Wilkey walked Baccay to load the bases, and then lost Kaitlyn Eveland on a nine-pitch at-bat to force in a run for the final 10-4 margin of victory.
- Eveland smacked the  25th of her career, putting her in sole possession of fifth place in the MSU record book in that category. She also drew her 28th walk of the season, her third consecutive season with 28 walks. She has 90 in her career, which is third at MSU all-time.
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Thursday, April 11
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