DePaul vs Northwestern | Big Ten Softball | Mar 27, 2019 at 4:46 PM EDT

Playing in its first non-conference matchup at Sharon J. Drysdale Field this season, Northwestern's bats could not keep pace with DePaul as they dropped a 9-7 decision on Wednesday afternoon.

The Wildcats totaled 10 hits, including five for extra bases, and plated runs in five of the seven innings. Mac Dunlap led the team at the plate, going 2-for-3 with two solo homers. This marks the first multi-homer game of Dunlap's career and the second multi-homer game for the Wildcats this season.

Also turning in another impressive day at the plate was Rachel Lewis, who went 2-for-4 with a homer, a double, two RBI and a run scored. She has now homered in four of her last five games and is hitting .500 (7-for-14) with three hours, four RBI, five runs scored and a 1.214 slugging percentage in home games this season.

Also registering multi-hit games were Maeve Nelson, who went 2-for-4 with a run scored, along with Morgan Newport, who went 2-for-4 with an RBI and a run scored.

The 'Cats jumped out to an early lead after Newport came through with a two-out RBI-single up the middle. They added to their lead in the second inning after Lewis roped a double to right-center to bring home Lily Novak.

Dunlap extended the Wildcats' lead in the bottom of the fourth inning with a long homer to left-center. Northwestern plated two more runs in the fifth inning after Maeve Nelson scored via an error and Jordyn Rudd drove in Newport with a two-out RBI-double to center field, extending her season total to a team-high 29 RBI.

After DePaul took the lead in the top of the sixth inning, the Wildcats fought back with two solo homers from Dunlap and Lewis in the bottom of the frame to cut the Blue Demons' lead to just two.

Northwestern is now 22-7 on the season, while DePaul improves to 22-9. The Wildcats will resume conference play this weekend when they travel to Iowa City this weekend for a three-game series against Iowa beginning on Friday, March 29. The #B1GCats will return home next Wednesday, April 3, when they host Loyola-Chicago. Tickets can be purchased HERE.