EVANSTON, Il.— After nearly a four hour weather delay Saturday afternoon, McNeese softball dropped a 17-3 run-rule game to Northwestern, the Evanston Regional No. 1 seed, sending the Cowgirls to an elimination game against the winner of Notre Dame/Oakland at 8:50 p.m. later tonight.
 
Northwestern (42-10) held a 6-0 lead after two and a half innings before Jil Poullard's bases clearing double cut the Wildcat lead in half, giving the Cowgirls (39-20) life but Northwestern put together a nine run, 10 hit fourth inning to break the game open and held a 15-3 lead.
 
The Wildcats added two more runs in the fifth inning including a pinch hit home run to extend its lead to 17-3.
 
McNeese collected six hits with six different players picking up one apiece. Ashley Vallejo took the loss, falling to 17-8 on the season and the Cowgirls used four different pitchers.
 
 
SCORING
T1- NW takes the early lead on a one out single to center by Jordyn Rudd (NW 1, McN 0)
T2- NW adds another run following a three base error then a ground out to score the run (NW 2, McN 0)
       A wild pitch brings home another Wildcat run (NW 3, McN 0)
       A double steal scores another run (NW 4, McN 0)
T3- NW took a 5-0 lead on a one out solo homerun by Nikki Cuchran. Cowgirl pitcher Ashley Vallejo was replaced by Shaelyn Sanders. Back-to-back doubles by Hannah Cady and Sydney Supple added another run (NW 6, McN 0)
B3- Cowgirls cut the lead in half on a bases clearing double by Jil Poullard (NW 6, McN 3)
T4- Northwestern broke the game open with 9 runs on 10 hits and one Cowgirl error (NW 15, McN 3)
T5- The Wildcats scored two more runs including a pinch hit solo homerun (NW 17, McN 3)