April 22, 2011

Box Score

DEKALB, Ill. - The Northern Illinois University softball team edged out Bowling Green, 4-3, Friday afternoon at Mary M. Bell Field.

With the score tied 3-3 heading into the bottom of the fifth, Stephanie Tofft (Lincoln, Calif./Lincoln) blasted a solo home run over the left field to break the tie and give the Huskies (19-19, 9-3) a 4-3 lead. Her only hit of the game in her final at bat, Tofft extended her school record hitting streak to 28 games.

Tofft, who started the game in left, came in to pitch the top of the fifth in relief of Nicole Gremillion (Missouri City, Texas/Elkins), threw a scoreless 1-2-3 inning before hitting the home run. She allowed one hit in three innings of work to pick up the win. Tofft also went 1-for-1 with two walks and three runs scored.

"Steph did a great job," NIU head coach Lindsay Chouinard said. "She came up with the game-winning hit and closed the game for her first conference win. She did it all today.

"Steph is the ultimate utility. She loves to be all over the field and she's a team player. She wants to do whatever her team needs of her.It's beautiful to see her rewarded for that."

Northern Illinois had two homers on the day. The first was a two-run shot by Dani Parrish (Plainfield, Ind./Plainfield) in the bottom of the third. With the Huskies trailing, 2-1, and Tofft on first, Parrish deposited the Erin Greenwalt pitch over the left field fence to give NIU a 3-2 lead. BGSU (7-25, 1-10) tied the game at 3-3 with a run in the top of the fourth.

Game Two was called due to unplayable conditions in the middle of the fifth inning with the Huskies trailing 11-5.

Northern Illinois is back in action Saturday when the Huskies welcome Toledo for a weekend series. First pitch is scheduled for 2 p.m. and fans can follow all the action live via Gametracker at NIUHuskies.com.

-NIU-