The Big Ten has a new home run king, and she resides in Evanston. Senior first baseman Garland Cooper broke the record for most career home runs by a Big Ten softball player when she hit the 52nd of her career and 20th of the season in Friday’s 5-1 win over Iowa. Junior third baseman Darcy Sengewald and freshman second baseman Nicole Pauly also homered for the Wildcats, who, with the win, improved to 12-3 in conference play and 38-10 overall.
The day was also marked by another standout performance from senior pitcher Eileen Canney. Canney threw a complete game, striking out seven Hawkeyes along the way. She notched her 22nd win of the season and only surrendered one run, on a single by Iowa junior Emily Nichols in the sixth. Canney recorded a milestone of her own when she recorded the 1000th strikeout of her career in the first inning.
But the day still belonged to Cooper. When Cooper came to bat in the fifth inning there were two runners on and the Cat’s already led 2-0. In her first at bat, Cooper had just missed hitting an opposite field home run. This time there was never any doubt that the ball was going to leave the park. The homer, off of Iowa pitcher Brittany Weil, staked Canney to a 5-0 lead and ended any chance of an Iowa comeback.
As Cooper crossed home plate, she was mobbed by her teammates and given a standing ovation by the crowd of mostly parents and other student-athletes at Sharon J. Drysdale Field. One of the few regular students on hand, Weinberg sophomore Karl Zipple said he realized he was witnessing something special.
“It’s exciting that the person with the record goes to Northwestern,” Zipple said.
The low student attendance was not just a result of the cold and damp weather, but has been something which has marked games all season, said Lisa Salamon, the mother of junior outfielder Kristen Salamon.
“It’s not a high-profile sport,” Lisa Salamon said.
Zipple attributed the low student turnout to the fact that Northwestern students are just not that interested in sports in general.
“Why do more [students] not come to basketball [games]?” Zipple said.
The teams were scoreless heading into the bottom of the third before Sengewald hit her third homer of the season, a solo shot to left, to give Northwestern a 1-0 lead. The Wildcats would make it 2-0 the next inning when Pauly led off with her seventh homer of the season.
The Wildcats defeated Iowa again on Saturday 2-1 before sweeping a doubleheader against Illinois on Sunday behind freshman pitcher Lauren Delaney’s no-hitter. This week NU will play Depaul twice before heading to the Big Ten Tournament, which begins May 10.