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Northwestern punches ticket to College Softball World Series with thrilling win over Arizona State

Dustin Schutte

By Dustin Schutte

Published:

Northwestern is heading to Oklahoma City with a chance to win a national championship.

Sunday night, the Wildcats overcame a 5-0 deficit in Tempe to defeat Arizona State 8-6 in Game 3 of the NCAA Super Regionals. Jordyn Rudd was the star of Sunday’s contest, getting 4 hits on 5 at bats and knocking in 3 runs in the Wildcats’ victory.

It was a slow start for Northwestern, he surrendered 1 run in the opening inning then 4 more in the bottom of the 3rd, allowing Arizona State to jump out to an early 5-0 advantage. The Cats didn’t need much time to crawl back into the game.

Northwestern put up some big numbers in the 4th, scoring 4 runs. Lauren Caldrone grounded into a fielder’s choice but a throwing error from Arizona State allowed Angela Zedak and Rachel Lewis to cross home plate for the team’s first runs of the game.

Rudd stepped up to the plate and a single to left field scored Ayana Lindsey and Skyler Shellmyer to cut the Sun Devils’ lead to 1 run at the end of the inning.

In the 5th, Hannah Cady tied the game with a solo home run to right field. The Wildcats would take their first lead on a Maeve Nelson single to the outfield, which scored Rudd to make the score 6-5. Northwestern never looked back.

Danielle Williams pitched all 7 innings for the Wildcats, giving up 6 hits and 6 runs but striking out 7 batters.

After claiming the series over Arizona State, Northwestern heads to Oklahoma City for the College Softball World Series. As the No. 9 seed, Northwestern will play top-seeded Oklahoma on Thursday, June 2.

The first pitch is scheduled for 2:30 p.m. ET and the game will air on ESPN.

Dustin Schutte

Dustin grew up in the heart of Big Ten country and has been in sports media since 2010. He has been covering Big Ten football since 2014. You can follow him on Twitter: @SchutteCFB