As soon as junior Kaitlyn Bowers got a piece of it, she knew without a doubt it was out of here.

Knotted in a 7-7 game against Salisbury, Bowers opened the Tigers' batting order in the bottom of the seventh after Salisbury had tied it with a run in the top half of the frame. And the junior didn't waste any time in helping the Tigers regain that advantage for good.Bowers drove a pitch to deep center field that sailed over Salisbury's Lilia Crouthamel and over the Tigers' home field fence to cement an 8-7 walk-off win on Friday evening at Northwestern High School."I was just looking for a pitch to hit," Bowers said. "Basically to get a single and keep us going so that we could come back and score."I knew right as it came out of her hand that this was it."Due to field conditions at Salisbury, the game was rescheduled on the Tigers' home field. The victory turned out to be Northwestern's (4-1 overall, 3-1 in Colonial League) first against a team with a winning record."We wanted to send a message today that we can contend in this league," head coach Josh Zimmerman said. "Salisbury is a quality program, and they are winning a lot of games. Give them a lot credit. They can hit the ball, and they have pretty decent pitching."Clinging to a one-run lead with three outs remaining, the Falcons scored the game-tying run after Melissa Kugler's sacrifice fly brought home Crouthamel.But the Tigers, after watching an early 6-2 lead disappear in the second, bounced back just moments later with Bowers' blast."When she (Bowers) gets ahold of it, it's going to go," Zimmerman said. "She's a little streaky, but when she gets good contact it's going to go. And it's going to go hard. Her biggest thing, and she did it today, is picking out her pitch."After Salisbury took the lead at 2-1 in the top of the second, Northwestern's bats came to life in the bottom of the frame in an emphatic way. The Tigers, who batted around in the second, scorched the Falcons for five runs to hold a 6-2 lead.Greenberg launched a double to left field that scored three Tigers - Danner, Brooke Wehr and Claire O'Dea - to keep Northwestern's scoring barrage going. Ellen Marie Smith then added a triple that scored Greenberg, capping the second-inning spurt."All day we were like are we going to play or aren't we going to play," Zimmerman said. "It took our girls a little bit to get focused, which is something we're not used to. We're usually focused from the first pitch on, but it's an attribute to these girls. They never quit."But the Falcons responded with four runs of their own in the top of the third that tied it at six runs apiece.Meghan Williams and Crouthamel recorded RBI-singles in the inning.Three Tiger errors in the thirdtwo of which came in the outfield and scored two Falcon runs - didn't help their chances at holding off Salisbury, who entered the game at 3-1 atop the Colonial League's WestDanner, after allowing nine hits and six runs through the first three innings, settled down to allow just one run on six hits the rest of the way."Lydia (Danner) has ice running through her veins," Zimmerman said. "Nothing ever really seems to phase her. When we need a big out, she is ready."Greenberg's groundout in the fourth scored Wehr to put the Tigers back in front at 7-6 before the seventh-inning spectacle."It's great momentum going into the rest of the season," Bowers said. "To beat a team like that, we know we can come back and get the win."Salisbury 024 000 1 - 7 15 2N'western 150 100 1 - 8 11 5Costello and Creswell; Danner and Greenberg. W - Danner. L - Costello. HR: NW - Bowers (7th, none on).