AKRON, Ohio – The No. 3 seeded Northern Illinois University Softball team defeated top-seed Central Michigan, 3-0, in its third game of the 2017 Mid-American Conference Tournament at Firestone Stadium Friday.
 
A day after striking out 14 times, the Huskie (32-20) bats came alive against CMU (37-15). When they put the ball in play, the Huskies made the most of every opportunity. NIU scored all three of its runs with two outs.
 
NIU received an outstanding performance from starter Keegan Hayes (Naperville, Ill./Naperville Central) in the circle and two-hitless innings of relief from Tara Thacker (Uniontown, Ohio/North Canton Hoover). Hayes allowed five hits and a walk in five innings of work, while Thacker didn't allow a base runner.
 
"Keegan and Tara threw a phenomenal game," said NIU head coach Christina Sutcliffe. "To be able to shut out that team, with their type of players, they were doing something right. Our pitching has done enough all week to help us win."
 
The Huskies jumped on the board first with a run in the third inning. With one out, Jenny Van Geertry reached on an error by the Chippewas shortstop and hustled all the way to second as the ball dribbled into short center field. After a line out and a walk, Kayti Grable (Santee, Calif./Santana) stepped to the plate and delivered a single through the right side to drive in Van Geertry.
 
"She's a super aggressive base runner," she said. "That was awesome to see. As soon as I saw it tip off her glove I was hoping she was going to see that and go. It was awesome she got out of the box wanting to that. It ended up being a run for us."
 
Back-to-back two-out singles in the top of the fourth allowed the Huskies to extend their lead to 3-0. Abby Howlett (South Elgin, Ill./St. Charles North) earned a lead off walk and was pinch run for by Kalalaelisa Toomalatai (Long Beach, Calif./Otay Ranch). She was then sacrificed to second base by Katie Lamich (Naperville, Ill./Naperville Central).
 
Dominique Greeno (Lacy, Wash./North Thurston) singled up the middle to drive in Toomalatai and moved into scoring position herself taking second on the throw to the plate. Van Geertry drove in the Huskies' third run of the game when she singled up the middle to score Greeno from second.
 
"We just got the key hit when we needed it," Sutcliffe said. "It wasn't pretty, but we were able to put three up [on the scoreboard]."
 
Grable led the way for the Huskies, going 2-for-3 with two RBIs, while Greeno and Van Geertry each went 1-for-3 with an RBI and run scored.
 
NIU returns to action Friday night when the Huskies face No. 8 seeded Western Michigan. First pitch is set for 5 p.m. CT. Fans can follow it through live stats all on NIUHuskies.com.
 
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