2 hours and 9 minutes after the first pitch of the 2007 Big Ten Softball Tournament, we are already back in our room preparing for a night on the town. Guy Benson, Ray Garcia and myself have Eileen Canney to thank.
The star senior baffled Spartan hitters all afternoon, pitching a complete game 3 hitter with 12 strikeouts. MSU couldn't lay off Canney's nasty riseball and Eileen even threw in a couple wicked screwballs for good measure. Canney has now officially silenced any critics who were saying she is not the same dominant pitcher she was last season.
Sophomore Erin Dyer was the offensive star of the game. Spartan starter Lesley Noel was going toe to toe with Canney through the first 3 innings, but the 'Cats broke through in the 4th with Dyer's 2-run blast over the right centerfield fence. NU added two insurance runs in the 5th thanks to some shoddy defense from Michigan State. Two Spartan errors led to 2 unearned runs for Northwestern.
The 'Cats will be back in action tomorrow afternoon in the semifinals. They will face the winner of tomorrow's Michigan-Illinois matchup, which gets underway at 11 CT. If Michigan gets by the Illini, it should be quite a semifinal matchup as the Wolverines are NU's biggest rival and both teams are ranked in the top 10 nationally.
Our semifinal coverage gets underway at 3:45 CT with the pregame show. Ray Garcia and Guy Benson will be on the call as NU tries to advance to the BTT Final for the second consecutive year.
Now it's time to celebrate an NU win and Mr. Garcia's 22nd birthday. More posts coming from the rest of the crew later tonight...
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