CARBONDALE, Ill. – The Northern Illinois University Softball team split its games on the second day of play in the Coach B. Classic at Charlotte West Stadium Saturday.
NIU (7-5) scored a 6-2 victory over local rival UIC (9-7) in the first game of the day before falling to Murray State (12-4), 7-3, in the nightcap. The big inning and defense were the main storylines in both games.
In the first game of the day, the Huskies jumped on top of UIC early. NIU posted a four-run first inning without the benefit of a hit.
"We did a nice job of scoring early," said NIU head coach
Christina Sutcliffe. "We capitalized on a couple of their errors. The two runs later in the game were big for us, just to give us a little more comfort."
Jessica Rio (Plainfield, Ill./Plainfield) reached on an error and advanced all the way to third to open the game and
Bekah Harnish (Maple Park, Ill./Burlington Central) walked to put runners at the corners with no outs for
Kayti Grable (Santana, Calif./Santee) drove in Rio on a groundout to third and Harnish was able to advance to third on the play.
Harnish scored when
Kali Kossakowski (Elgin, Ill./St. Edward) laid down a bunt. Kossakowski reached on the play at the plate to keep the inning going for NIU.
Sam Schmidt (Lombard, Ill./Willowbrook) grounded out, but moved the runner to second. Becca Rupard (Normal, Ill./Normal West) walked to put runners at first and second with two outs for
Jenny Van Geertry (Mokena, Ill./Lincoln-Way East).
Van Geertry reached on an error by the first baseman, allowing Kossakowski to score and Rupard scored on the next batter when
Abby Howlett (South Elgin, Ill./St. Charles North) to give NIU and
Alex Frenz (Oakville, Mo./Oakville) a 4-0 lead before taking the field defensively.
NIU added a pair of insurance runs in the top of the fourth. With two on and two outs, Van Geertry doubled in Rupard and Kossakowski.
Frenz was dominant in the circle, carrying a no-hitter into the fifth inning before it was broken up on a lead off single. She held the Flames to one run on three hits and striking out five.
Keegan Hayes (Naperville, Ill./Naperville Central) finished the game, going an inning and a third and allowing two hits and a walk while striking out two.
"Alex did a great job," Sutcliffe said. "I think she had a no-hitter going into the fifth inning. They were starting to put the ball in play a little more so we wanted to get Keegan in there and get into a closing role with her."
Van Geertry led the Huskies at the plate going 2-for-4 with two RBIs.
Unfortunately for NIU, the script flipped for the Huskies in the second game of the day. After NIU took a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the first, Murray State scored seven runs in the top of the seventh, aided by three Huskie errors in the inning.
NIU was out-hit by the Racers, 10-4, with Grable leading the way, going 2-for-3 with an RBI and run scored. The bottom half of the Huskie line up went a combined 1-for-15 from the plate.
NIU returns to the diamond tomorrow to conclude play in the Coach B Classic. The Huskies face in-state foes Western Illinois and host Southern Illinois at 9 a.m. and 1 p.m., respectively. NIU's game with the Salukis will be available on ESPN3.
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