ELLISVILLE - Playing well past midnight and into extra innings, Northwest gave all it had to try and avoid elimination on Saturday evening, but a grand slam from Pearl River in the top of the eighth ended the Rangers' season with an 8-4 loss.
Scoreless after three complete, freshman
Kara Johnson broke the silence in the bottom of the fourth with a solo homer to left field, her seventh home run of the season. Pearl River regained the lead after a three-run frame in the top of the fifth, only for the Rangers to counter back with an RBI-single from Johnson and a two-run single from
Kaylee Owens.
Leading 4-3, the Rangers surrendered the tying run in the top of the sixth, giving Pearl River some momentum heading into the seventh inning.
Allyson Harrison retired the Wildcats in order in the top of the seventh, while Brinson Anne Rogers did the same for the Wildcats, setting up extra innings.
Northwest ran into trouble in the top of the eighth, when Pearl River hit its grand slam with two outs in the frame, effectively taking any momentum away from the Rangers. Rogers then retired Northwest in order in the bottom of the eighth, eliminating the Rangers from the remainder of the postseason.
Although Northwest will not return to the NJCAA Division II National Tournament for a second straight season, this year's team still racked up several accomplishments, both in single-season team and individual records. The Rangers finished the season with a 32-11 overall mark, earning back-to-back 30-win seasons for the first time in program history.
Sophomore
Gabby Dickerson and McKaylee "K.K." Polk ended their Northwest careers shattering numerous records and entering several Top 10 statistical lists. Polk departs as the program's all-time home run record holder (42) and a whopping 1.034 career slugging percentage, while Dickerson holds career and single-season records in strikeouts, innings pitched, wins and appearances.
Additionally, the Northwest pitching staff collectively held its opponents to an all-time low .200 batting average and another all-time fewest hits allowed (205), while finishing with the third-lowest earned run average (2.31). The trio of Dickerson,
Kylee Brown and
Allyson Harrison also left with three of the top 10 lowest opponent batting averages in a season, with Brown's 1.61 ERA good for the fifth-best by any Northwest pitcher in a single season.
Full records are listed below, first including single-season individual records, followed by individual career records and then single-season team records.
*denotes current freshmen
McKaylee Polk:
- .554 batting average - Single-season record
- .461 career batting avg. - Ranks second all-time
- 24 home runs - Single-season record (*18 home runs in 2022; ranks second)
- 42 career home runs - Most all-time
- 162 total bases - Single-season record (*145 total bases in 2022; ranks second)
- 305 career bases - Most all-time
- 27 walks - Tied for single-season record with Saige Koczka in 2022 (*18 walks in 2022; tied for seventh)
- 45 career walks - Most all-time
- 1.339 slugging percentage - Single-season record (*.806 slugging % in 2022; ranks third)
- 1.034 career slugging percentage - Most all-time
- .647 on-base percentage - Single-season record
- .540 career on-base percentage - Most all-time
- 60 runs batted in - Second in a single season (*63 RBI in 2022 ranks first)
- 123 career runs batted in - Most all-time
- 17 doubles - Tied for third in a single season with Candice Brasher in 2011 (*19 doubles in 2022; ranks second)
- 35 career doubles - Ranks second all-time
- 67 base hits - Fourth in a single season (*70 in 2022; ranks third)
- 136 career hits - Ranks second all-time
- 51 runs scored - Fourth in a single season (*55 in 2022; ranks third)
- 106 career runs - Ranks second all-time
- 3 triples - Tied with six other players for 10th-most in a single season
- 3 sacrifice flies - Tied with seven other players for third in a single-season in 2022
- 295 career at-bats - Ranks third all-time
- 95 career games played - Ranks second all-time
- 9 hit-by-pitches - Tied for seventh all-time with Erin Claire Stegall (2015-16) and Maddie Brower (2021-22)
Gabby Dickerson:
- 137 strikeouts - Ranks third in a single-season (*239 strikeouts in 2022; single-season record)
- 376 career strikeouts - Most all-time
- 15 wins - Ranks fifth in a single-season (*26 wins in 2022; single-season record)
- 41 career wins - Most all-time
- 8.27 strikeouts per 7 inning game - Tied for third in a single-season with Allyson Harrison (*min. requirement is 40 innings pitched)
- .204 opponent batting average - Ranks sixth in a single season (*.222 opponent batting average in 2022; ranks ninth in a single season)
- 116.0 innings pitched - Ranks ninth in a single season (*203.1 innings pitched in 2022; single-season record)
- 319.1 career innings pitched - Most all-time
- 40 appearances in 2022 - Most in a single season
- 63 career appearances - Most all-time
- 8 shutouts in 2022 - Ranks second in a single season
- 10 career shutouts - Ranks second all-time
- 28 career complete games - Tied for third all-time with Casey Baddley (2012-13)
Kylee Brown:
- .173 opponent batting average - Ranks second in a single-season (*min. requirement is 40 innings pitched)
- 7.89 strikeouts per 7 inning game - Ranks sixth in a single-season (*min. requirement is 40 innings pitched)
Allyson Harrison:
- 4 triples - Tied with five other players for fourth in a single season
- .195 opponent batting average - Ranks fifth in a single season (*min. requirement is 40 innings pitched)
- 8.27 strikeouts per 7 inning game - Tied for third in a single-season with Allyson Harrison (*min. requirement is 40 innings pitched)
Kara Johnson*:
- 22 stolen bases - Ranks sixth in a single season
- .680 slugging percentage - Ranks sixth in a single season
- 87 total bases - Ranks eighth in a single season
- 7 home runs - Tied for ninth in a single season with Kaitlyn Bednarek (2021)
- Also ranks eighth in career home runs
- 3 triples - Tied with six other players for 10th-most in a single season
- 37 runs batted in - Tied with three other players for 10th-most in a single season
Kaylee Owens*:
- 8 home runs - Tied for seventh-most in a single season with Kaitlyn Bednarek (2022)
- Also ranks seventh in career home runs
Neely Cooper*:
- 17 walks - Tied with five other players for 10th-most in a single season.
Reese Vanlandingham:
- 139 at-bats - Ranks eighth in a single season
Anna Nickens:
- 9 career sacrifice hits - Ranks ninth all-time
Bailey Russell:
- 7 sacrifice hits (2022) - Tied with Mandy Bolden and Christian Reyes for seventh most in a single season
TEAM RECORDS:
- .200 opponent batting average - Lowest in a single season
- 205 hits allowed - Fewest in a single season
- 313 strikeouts issued - Second-most in a single season
- 2.31 earned run average - Third-lowest ERA in a single season
- 11 losses - Tied for third-lowest in a single season with 2009 team [25-11])
- 32 wins - Tied for fourth-most wins in a single season with 2010 team [32-15])
- 77-85 in stolen base attempts - Fourth-most in a single season
- 92 earned runs allowed - Tied for fifth-lowest in a single season with 2011 team
- 131 total runs allowed - Seventh-lowest in a single season
- 18 complete games - Seventh-most in a single season
- 5 shutouts pitched - Tied for 10th-most in a single season with 2008 team
- .953 fielding percentage - Fifth-best in a single season
- 1158 at-bats - Second-most in a single-season
- 21 triples - Second-most in a single season
- 45 home runs - Third-most in a single season
- 595 total bases - Third-most in a single season
- .514 slugging percentage - Third-most in a single season
- 358 hits - Fifth-most in a single season
- 238 runs batted in - Fifth-most in a single season
- 119 walks drawn - Fifth-most in a single season
- 281 runs scored - Sixth-most in a single season
- 9 sacrifice flies - Tied for seventh-most in a single season with 2011 and 2012 teams
- .383 on-base percentage - 10th-most in a single season
- 60 doubles - Tied for 10th-most in a single season with 2011 and 2012 teams
- 25 times hit-by-pitch - Tied for 10th-most in a single season with 2007 team
