Final Stats

DSU-NIU Box Score 

LUC-NIU Box Score 

TOURNAMENT CENTRAL

RALEIGH, N.C. – The Northern Illinois University softball team split its first two games of the N.C. State DoubleTree RDU Challenge at Dail Stadium Friday.

After dropping the tournament opener, 6-5, to Delaware State, the Huskies (9-7) rallied from a five-run deficit to defeat in-state foe Loyola, 10-6, in the second game.

“The first game, we had a couple good pitching performances, we just made some mistakes at the end,” said NIU head coach Christina Sutcliffe. “It was nice to see us come back from a five-run deficit early in the second game. We just chipped away and had a huge inning. We were able to rally quite a bit there.”

After the Ramblers scored three runs in the first and two in the second to take a 5-0 advantage, the Huskies slowly chipped away. NIU got on the board in the top of the fourth when Kali Kossakowski (Elgin, Ill/St. Edward) scored when Emily Naegele (Oak Forest, Ill./Oak Forest) reached on a fielder’s choice.

The big inning for NIU came in the top of the fifth as the Huskies platted nine runs. With one on and one out, Kossakowski began the rally when she reached on a fielder’s choice and advanced to third on a throwing error to score Jessica Rio (Plainfield, Ill./Plainfield East). That error opened the floodgates.

Kossakowski scored on Katie Lamich’s (Naperville, Ill./Naperville Central) base hit. Naegle drove in her second run of the game on single to left, scoring Lamich. A Jenny Van Geertry (Mokena, Ill./Lincoln-Way East) single drove in another run. Naegele tied the game when she scored from third on a double steal.

NIU took the lead when Dominique Greeno (Lacey, Wash./North Thurston) singled to left with the bases loaded and two outs. After Bekah Harnish (Maple Park, Ill./Burlington Central) scored on an illegal pitch, Kossakowski drove in a pair on a single to right field to cap off NIU’s scoring for the game.

Tara Thacker (Uniontown, Ohio/North Canton Hoover), who came in to pitch in relief in the bottom of the second, was able to hold Loyola in check and pick up the win. Thacker went five-and-a-third innings, allowing one run on one hit and three base on balls, while striking out five.

“Tara did a really nice job coming in and closing the door and giving us a chance to come back,” Sutcliffe said.

NIU wasn’t as fortunate in the first game of the day. The Huskies’ game with Delaware State started out promising. Back-to-back homers from Alaynie Woollard (New Castle, Ind./New Castle), a two-run blast, and a solo shot from Harnish gave NIU a 3-0 lead in the bottom of the fourth.

Unfortunately for NIU, the Hornets tied the game in the top of the fifth. Neither team could scratch across a run in the seventh and the game went into extra innings.

Delaware State struck first in extras by scoring a pair in the top of the eighth. The Huskies responded with a pair of runs in the bottom of the inning. However, the Hornets scored again in the top of the ninth and keep NIU off the scoreboard in the bottom half to win the game.

The Huskies return to the diamond Saturday, when NIU faces host N.C. State. First pitch is set for 11:15 a.m. CT. NIU will enter the round-robin portion of the tournament later that afternoon.

-NIU-