Final Stats

BSU 0-NIU 10 Box Score 

BSU 4-NIU 5 Box Score 

DEKALB, Ill. – The Northern Illinois University softball team won its doubleheader with Ball State in dramatic fashion at Mary M. Bell Field Tuesday.

“We lost three of our last four,” said NIU head coach Christina Sutcliffe. “I think these games were big getting back on a winning swing again. Getting wins in both games and getting us back in the lead in the MAC is great.”

In a match up of reigning MAC West Player and Pitcher of the Week, Emily Naegele (Oak Forest, Ill./Oak Forest) got the best of Ball State (17-20, 3-5) pitcher Nicole Steinbach in the bottom of the seventh helping lead the Huskies to a walk-off win over the Cardinals to complete the sweep.

With the score tied 4-4 in the bottom of the seventh, Naegele blasted a solo home run, winning the game for NIU (25-10, 6-2) and setting the school’s single season home run record in the process. Naegele’s solo shot was her 16th of the season, passing teammate Kayti Grable (Santee, Calif./Santana), who set the record at 15 last season.

Naegele’s seventh inning homer also ties Grable for the career lead at NIU. The Huskie duo each have 28 home runs after today’s games.

“It’s fun to you have two current roster players going back-and-forth with records,” Sutcliffe said. “They’re pushing each other and making each other better. Naegele is just on fire.”

Ball State took an early 1-0 lead after a solo homer by Emily Dabkowski in the top of the first. NIU responded with four runs in the bottom of the inning on a RBI single by Naegele and a base clearing triple by Allaynie Woollard (New Castle, Ind./New Castle) with the bases loaded.

However, the Cardinals battled back the next six innings. Ball State scored a pair of runs in the top of the fifth and tied the game in the top of the seventh. In the bottom of the inning, and the Huskie senior leading off, Naegele hit a 0-1 pitch over the left field fence to give NIU a 5-4 victory.

NIU’s game two victory followed an impressive 10-0 victory in the game one. It was a game that saw Alex Frenz (Oakville, Mo./Oakville) carry a perfect game into the sixth inning and Haley Wroten (Belleville, Ill./Belleville East) hit a game-ending grand slam in the bottom of the sixth.

The Huskies scored early and often against Steinbach in the first game. NIU put up a four spot in the first inning. Steinbach was only able to record one out, while allowing two runs before being lifted.

Frenz was dominant early, striking out the side in the top of the first. Staked to a four-run lead, she kept the Cardinals off the base paths the next five innings. She retired her first batter in the top of the sixth, but Leigh McAnally lifted a solid fly ball to left field. Katie Lamich (Naperville, Ill./Naperville Central) made a diving attempt but was unable to come up with the catch.

With NIU lead 6-0 in the bottom of the sixth with the bases loaded and one out, Wroten came off the bench and hit a pinch-hit grand slam, the first of her career to give NIU a 10-0 advantage and end the game.

Frenz was once again strong in the circle. She was nearly unhittable, allowing one run on three hits in nine innings of work. The Huskie freshman went 2-0 on the day, coming in to pitch the final three innings of game two after throwing a complete-game victory in game one.

“She was about two inches away from a perfect game,” she said. “Anytime you have that performance off a pitcher, that’s a great job. They [Ball State] did an awesome job in the second game of putting the ball in play. They did a really good job of making adjustments. We were just able to hold on.”

Naegele and Woollard led the way for the Huskies at the plate. Woollard was 4-for-6 on the day with four RBIs, including a 3-for-3, three RBIs in game two. Naegele was 3-for-5 with three RBIs and four runs scored.

The Huskies return to action Friday when NIU travels to Akron for a weekend series with the Zips. First pitch for game one is set for 2 p.m. CT on Friday. The pair will then meet up for a doubleheader Saturday starting at 12 p.m. CT.

-NIU-