Final Stats

TROY, Ala. - The Northern Illinois University softball team suffered a pair of losses in completely different fashion Friday, suffering a 9-1 defeat against Evansville and a 5-4 extra-inning heartbreaker to Troy.
 
Game One: Purple Aces Best Huskies, 9-1
 
A rough fourth inning doomed the Huskies in game on Friday, as they lost a 9-1 game to the Evansville Purple Aces.
 
NIU held a 1-0 lead through three innings, but UE put up seven runs in the ensuing frame to ultimately run away with the contest.
 
"You're not going to win any game walking 11 hitters," said NIU Head Coach Christina Sutcliffe. "We couldn't pitch the ball, couldn't figure out the umpire's strike zone and got rattled with it. Offensively, we couldn't make a correction, so we weren't able to push in any more runs."
 
After going scoreless in the first two innings, the Huskies broke through in the bottom of the third. Kali Kossakowski (Elgin, St. Edward) led off the inning with a double to left center. Two batters later, Emily Naegele (Oak Forest, Ill./Oak Forest) brought Kossakowski home with a RBI single, putting NIU out to a 1-0 lead.
 
Conversely, freshman pitcher Keegan Hayes (Naperville, Ill./Naperville Central) kept the Purple Aces in check through the first three innings, limiting them to three hits and no runs. However, UE opened the floodgates in the fourth against Hayes and Tara Thacker (Uniontown, Ohio/North Canton Hoover) with a seven-run frame in which the Huskies surrendered seven walks and hit two batters with pitches.
 
The Huskies tried to piece together a comeback by getting each of the first two batters on base in the fourth and fifth innings. Yet, in both cases, the Purple Aces held NIU scoreless, as UE pitcher Amanda Blankenship notched four of her eight strikeouts in those innings.
 
Meanwhile, UE added two more runs in the top of the seventh with a RBI double from Hayli Scott and a RBI single from Susan Norris to close out the scoring.
 
Game Two: NIU Falls to Troy in Extras, 5-4
 
In the nightcap, the Huskies let a two-run lead slip away as tournament host Troy took a 5-4 win in eight innings.
 
After a big fourth inning put NIU out to a 4-2 lead, the Trojans came back with a run in the fifth and one in the bottom of the seventh to force extras before Hannah Day knocked an RBI single in the eighth for the go-ahead run.
 
"I think we went back to the basics," Sutcliffe said. "We got some bunts down, which helped move things along then we were able to put some good balls in play. We had a much better approach the second game offensively. (We) just couldn't do enough to win it."
 
Troy got on the board first in the bottom of the opening frame. With the bases loaded courtesy of two walks and a single, Becca Hartley drove in the first run of the game by grounding into a double play, as Bekah Harnish (Maple Park, Ill./Burlington Central) stepped on second before firing to Kayti Grable (Santee, Calif./Santana) at first. Yet, Amanda Winters singled up the middle to push the Trojan lead to 2-0.
 
After a rough first inning, Jessica Sturm (Wichita, Kan./Goddard) settled down and silenced the Troy lineup. While she got out of a jam in the second by stranding runners on second and third, the senior breezed through the third and fourth with a pair of one-two-three innings.
 
That allowed the Huskie offense to come alive in the top of the fourth. Emily Naegele opened the inning with a double into the right power alley and Alaynie Woollard (New Castle, Ind./New Castle) drew a walk, while Sturm's groundout advanced Naegele and Woollard into scoring position. Rebecca Rupard (Normal, Ill./Normal West) took advantage, driving a single to second base to score Naegele. Kali Kossakowski tied the game with a well-placed bunt to bring in Woollard and advance to second in the process.
 
NIU seized the lead two batters later thanks to Caitlyn Warren (Naperville, Ill./Naperville North), who smacked a single between the shortstop and third base to bring in Rupard. Harnish made it a 4-2 Huskie lead when she got on when Troy pitcher Jaycee Affeldt mishandled a ground ball, allowing Kossakowski to cross home plate.
 
However, the hosts trimmed the NIU lead in half in the fifth. With the bases loaded and one out, Winters got a sacrifice foul out to score Day, while advancing two runners into scoring position on the throw to home. Sturm kept Troy from knotting the game up by forcing a groundout to end the inning.
 
The Huskie defense kept the Trojans off the board in the sixth by stranding runners on first and third. In the seventh, things quickly turned in Troy's favor, as Michelle Phelps led off the inning with a solo home run to left center to forge a 4-4 tie and send the game to extras.
 
With the international tiebreaker rule used and a runner automatically placed on second, NIU went down in order in their half of the eighth. Conversely, Troy drew a walk and had an intentional walk to load the bases with one out. At that moment, Day dropped a single into left field to bring home the winning run.
 
"Anytime we're in those tight situations down the stretch, we're going to be learning from it," Sutcliffe said. "We need to figure out what run lead we're protecting. When international tiebreaker comes around second, it's anybody's game at that point. We just couldn't push our runners and they could."
 
The Huskies return to the diamond tomorrow with matchups against Kennesaw State at 10 a.m. and Troy at 12:30 p.m.