DEKALB, Ill. – The Northern Illinois University softball team opened Mid-American Conference play and split a doubleheader against the Miami RedHawks at Mary M. Bell Field on Friday.
The Huskies (9-19) lost the first game, 1-0, before winning the second game, 8-0, in five innings. NIU saw consistent pitching throughout both of the games today.
"Anytime you are giving up one run in two games you are doing something right in the circle," said NIU head softball coach
Christina Sutcliffe. "It was a great performance by both Tara [Thacker] and Kenzie [Bryan], and you can not underestimate Alex [Frenz] coming in and shutting it down."
NIU used consistent pitching and power-hitting to defeat the RedHawks, 8-0, in the second game of the doubleheader. In the first, junior
Jenny Van Geertry (Mokena, Ill. /Lincoln-Way East) led off the game with a single down the left field line, followed by a one-out single by junior
Sam Schmidt (Lombard, Ill. /Willowbrook).
Alaynie Woollard (New Castle, Ind. /New Castle) then crushed a mammoth three-run home run off the left field scoreboard giving the Huskies an early 3-0 lead.
"I really needed that little confidence boost to get my positivity back," said Woollard.
The Huskies tacked on three more runs in the the third. After Van Geertry was hit by a pitch to lead off the frame,
Dominique Greeno (Lacey, Wash. /North Thurston) reached on an error to give NIU two runners with no outs. Schmidt then laid down a sacrifice bunt to move the runners into scoring position. With one out, Woollard put down a squeeze bunt that wound up scoring both Van Geertry and Greeno to make the score 5-0. Sophomore
Kayla Scaperrotta (Coral Springs, Fla. /Coral Springs Charter School) then smacked a double to left center, bringing in Woollard to give NIU a 6-0 lead.
NIU tallied two more runs in the top of the fifth. Schmidt led off the inning with a single to centerfield. Woollard then hit her fifth triple of the season to center to bring in Schmidt and make the score 7-0. Scaperrotta added to the inning with a sacrifice fly to right field to give the Huskies an 8-0 advantage.
Freshman
Mackenzie Bryan (Elwood, Ind. /Elwood) pitched five strong innings and earned her first win of the season. Miami mustered only two hits off Bryan, who struck out four and only surrendered one walk.
"It just makes me feel good in having a team work behind you well," said Bryan. "I did not have a bunch of strikeouts and they work well behind me. The game could have gone a different way if we did not have defense behind me."
Miami defeated NIU in the first game in a pitcher's duel, 1-0. Miami scored the only run of the game on a second inning sacrifice fly to right field.
The Huskies had an early opportunity in the top of the second inning to strike for runs. Woollard led off with a walk and senior
Bekah Harnish (Maple Park, Ill. /Burlington central) singled. Freshman
Kira Mickelson (Wheatland, Wis. /Westosha Central) then reached on a fielder's choice to load the bases. Miami starting pitcher Courtney Vierstra got the RedHawks out of that jam, recording back-to-back strikeouts and getting Van Geertry to line out to end the threat.
NIU had a late opportunity to take the lead in the seventh inning. Freshman
Katie Wingerter (Prospect Heights, Ill. /Hersey) and Van Geertry started off the inning with a pair of singles. After Greeno laid down a sacrifice bunt to move the runners into scoring position, Scaperrotta struck out and Schmidt grounded out to end the game.
NIU saw a strong showing from its starting pitcher
Tara Thacker (Uniontown, Ohio /North Canton Hoover). The Huskie senior went five-and-two-thirds innings, and gave up one run on three hits with six strikeouts.
The Huskies and RedHawks conclude the three game series on Sunday at 1 p.m. at Mary M. Bell Field.
–NIU–
