It happened once "unintentionally" to the leadoff hitter of Saturday's Super Regional game between Northwestern and Arizona State.
It happened again intentionally in the second inning.
It might have been strategy. It might have been fear. But either way, walking Arizona State's Kaitlin Cochran in the first and second inning spelled doom for the Wildcats' hopes of making their third straight trip to the Women's College World Series.
Cochran, the Sun Devils' center fielder, hit a Lauren Delaney rise ball out of Farrington Stadium in Tempe, Ariz., to give the No. 6-seeded team a 2-1 lead over the Cats they would not concede Friday night.
NU decided it wanted nothing to do with Cochran the rest of the weekend. And Arizona State took advantage of the extra base runner.
The Sun Devils scored four runs in the first two innings off of the Cats' free passes to her Saturday, putting them in an early hole during the must-win game two of the series.
NU did not learn its lesson, or still had Cochran's Friday night home run fresh in its mind. The Cats walked her again in the third inning to load the bases. And again in the sixth.
That was four trips to the plate and four free passes to first for the player second on the Sun Devils' all-time list for home runs.
The Sun Devils made them pay, capping a 9-0 win with a sixth-inning grand slam that sent the Cats home to Evanston.
The walk strategy was an uncharacteristic move from coach Kate Drohan, who has built NU into a softball power in the last four years on being aggressive, bringing energy and playing hard.
No doubt the team played hard, but the other two did not happen, and the early walks were a sign NU was not itself.
The typically strong offense - third in the Big Ten in runs and second in batting average - was on its heels against Arizona State pitcher Katie Burkhart.
Burkhart had 16 strikeouts in the first game and added 10 more in the decisive second game. She kept the Cats constantly guessing - and guessing wrong.
2008 Woodie Awards
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