Final Stats

SAN MARCOS, Texas – Thanks to a sensational showing from the top of the lineup, the Northern Illinois University softball team closed out the Hampton Inn & Suites Invitational with an 8-3 victory over Texas State.
 
NIU’s first three batters – Bryanna Phelan (Coal City, Ill./Coal City), Bekah Harnish (Maple Park, Ill./Burlington Central) and Kayti Grable (Santee, Calif./Santana) – powered the offense with eight hits and five RBIs on the day, while the entire lineup combined for five extra-base hits.
 
“To be honest, we’ve gotten a spark in the lineup, one through nine, all weekend,” said NIU Head Coach Christina Sutcliffe. “We knew coming in that our offense could put up some serious runs. I’m not sure if we knew the power they were going to be capable of doing, but we want to keep rolling.”
 
Phelan got the Huskies off to a hot start with a leadoff triple in the top of the first. Two batters later, Grable knocked a single up the middle to drive Phelan home and give the Huskies a quick 1-0 lead.
 
In the second, Phelan came through again with a big hit. Caitlyn Warren (Naperville, Ill./Wisconsin) reached on a leadoff single and advanced to second on a sac bunt by Rebecca Rupard (Normal, Ill./Normal West). Two batters later, Phelan came through with a two-out single to drive home Warren and put NIU up, 2-0.
 
Yet, Texas State quickly turned the two-run deficit into a one-run advantage in the bottom of the second. After two Bobcats got on base with an error and a single, Sara Rupp drove a home run to right center to put the hosts ahead, 3-2.
 
The Huskies quickly turned things back in their favor in the top of the fourth with three runs on three hits. With two outs, Phelan again posted a big hit, this time with a two-out double. Harnish dropped a hit into right field to bring home the senior from second for the tying run. With a runner on, Grable pushed NIU ahead for good, clocking a two-run home run for a 5-3 NIU lead.
 
Meanwhile, Jessica Sturm (Wichita, Kan./Goddard) made Grable’s go-ahead homer count, allowing only three walks in the fourth and fifth innings and finishing the day surrendering just six hits and posting two strikeouts in 5.2 innings. Sturm was spelled in the sixth by Keegan Hayes (Naperville, Ill./Naperville Central), who got out of a two-on, two-out situation in the sixth before closing down the Bobcats in the seventh.
 
“I think Jess did a nice job of keeping them off balance inside and outside,” Sutcliffe said. “When Keegan came in to close, she did a good job with her offspeed, which was a totally different look. With the way our defense played, we got off the field when we needed to.”
 
Though Sturm and Hayes kept Texas State’s offense on its heels, the NIU offense kept producing in the top of the seventh. With two on and two out, Alaynie Woollard (New Castle, Ind./New Castle) clobbered a home run to bring in three insurance runs and close out the scoring. The roundtripper was Woollard’s third of the weekend and ninth for the team in five games.
 
The Huskies get a weekend off before they return to the field Feb. 20-22 to face UConn, Troy and Evansville at the Trojan Invitational.