AKRON, Ohio – The No. 3 Northern Illinois University Softball team suffered a 1-0 setback to No. 2 seed Ohio, 5-4, in the quarterfinals of the 2017 Mid-American Conference Tournament at Firestone Stadium Thursday.
 
"Losing to that team three times by one run is a little frustrating on our end," said NIU head coach Christina Sutcliffe. "We need to figure out how to be one run better with them. We're just striking out way too much and a lot of it looking."
 
Ohio (38-14) scored the only run of the game on a throwing error in the first inning. With a runner at second with one out, Morgan Geno hit a sharp ground ball to shortstop. Kali Kossakowski (Elgin, Ill./St. Edward) quickly threw to second to try and get Alexa Holland straying off the bag.
 
The Bobcat runner got back in time, however, on the turn to first to get the batter, Dominique Greeno's (Lacy, Wash./North Thurston) throw was off and went out of play and Geno scored. Ohio starter Savannah Dorsey made it hold up allowing just one hit, a fourth inning single by Kossakowski.
 
Dorsey struck out 14 Huskies and retired the first 10 batters she faced in seven innings of work. Her performance overshadowed a strong outing by Tara Thacker (Uniontown, Ohio/North Canton Hoover). The Huskie (31-20) junior allowed one unearned run on just two hits.
 
"Tara threw a two hitter," Sutcliffe said. "You can't complain about that. She did enough to win that game."
 
NIU returns to action Friday morning when the Huskies face top-seeded Central Michigan. First pitch is set for 9:30 a.m. CT. Fans can follow it through live stats all on NIUHuskies.com.
 
-NIU-