March 24, 2007

Box Score

IOWA CITY, Iowa - The Northern Illinois University softball team scored a 3-2 win over South Dakota State, picking up its first victory in the Hawkeye Classic Saturday night.

"Michelle Nendza had a good game and Ellen Stoddard hit a home run. It was a bomb," said head coach Donna Martin. "Taryn Hagemann pitched okay. Sometimes you've gut out a win and we did. We waited all day to play. It took us a little while to get going, but we did."

The Huskies (9-10) fell behind early, when South Dakota State scored a run on a two-out single jumping out to a 1-0 lead. That was the score when the Huskies came to the plate in the bottom of the fourth.

Krystn Sendejas opened the bottom of the fourth with a lead-off single. She advanced to second on a sacrifice bunt by Randi Kreiter. Nendza came up and delivered an RBI double to left. Stoddard came up and belted a two-run homer to give the Huskies a 3-1 lead. The Jackrabbits pulled a run closer in the top of the fifth, but were unable to regain the lead.

Nendza finished the day 2-3 with a RBI and a run scored, while Stoddard went 1-3 with two RBI and a game-winning home run. Bailey Ouellette went a perfect 3-3 from the plate. Hagemann got the win, going 5.1 innings allowing two runs on six hits. Freshman Kate Greenough came in and got the final five outs.

The Huskies will be back in action Sunday when they take on Ball State at noon and the host Iowa Hawkeyes at 4 p.m. Both games will be available on GameTracker on niuhuskies.com.