Final Stats

NIU 6-LUC 9 Box Score 

CHICAGO – The Northern Illinois University softball team saw its 14-game winning streak come to an end after dropping a 9-6 decision to Loyola at Loyola Softball Park Wednesday.

NIU (22-8) jumped out to an early lead, however, three-straight three-run inning by Loyola (16-12) proved to be too much to overcome.

“Our defense didn’t play well enough to win a game,” said NIU head coach Christina Sutcliffe. “We made a lot of errors on the scoreboard and some that didn’t show up on the scoreboard and that was the difference in the game.”

The Huskies took a 2-0 advantage in the top of the second on a RBI double by Abby Howlett (South Elgin, Ill./St. Charles North) and a groundout by Bekah Harnish (Maple Park, Ill./Burlington Central) which scored Howlett.

Starter Tara Thacker (Uniontown, Ohio/North Canton Hoover) kept Loyola at bay in the first three innings. After setting down the Ramblers in order in the first, the Huskie sophomore stranded a pair of Loyola runners in the second and third innings until the Ramblers broke through in the bottom of the fourth.

The inning started off ominously as Thacker hit Katy LaCivita, the leadoff batter. A single and sacrifice bunt put runners on second and third with one out. The Ramblers tied the game with a RBI double and single to center. With the bases loaded and two outs, Loyola took a 3-2 lead with an infield single.

The Ramblers took advantage of a pair of Huskie defense in the bottom of the fifth to pull away from NIU. Once again, the inning began with a hit batter as Emma Ray (Verona, Wis./Verona Area), who came into pitch for Thacker, hit LaCivita to start the rally. Back-to-back throwing errors by the Huskie third baseman scored a pair of Ramblers. A third run scored when Jamie O’Brien grounded into a double play.

Loyola scored some insurance runs in the bottom of the sixth when the Ramblers added three more runs on four hits. As it turned out, those would be three big runs.

Trailing 9-2 and the bases loaded with two outs, Emily Naegele (Oak Forest, Ill./Oak Forest) blasted a grand slam over the right field fence to pull the Huskies within three runs, 9-6. However, it was too little too late as a Jenny Van Geertry (Mokena, Ill./Lincoln-Way East) groundout ended the rally and the game.

“It was nice to see us fight in the seventh and try and make a game of it,” Sutcliffe said. “Unfortunately we put ourselves in too big of a hole to come back from.”

The Huskies return to the field Friday when NIU welcomes Kent State to Mary M. Bell Field for the 2016 home opener. First pitch is set for 3 p.m. CT. Fans can watch the game live on NIUHuskies.com and follow all the action via Gametracker.

-NIU-