MUNCIE, Ind. – The Northern Illinois University softball team took the season series from Ball State as the Huskies earned a 4-2 victory at the Softball Field at First Merchants Ballpark Complex Wednesday.
NIU (18-20, 5-6), who split a doubleheader with the Cardinals (27-14, 5-4) last week at Mary M. Bell Field, took advantage of some wildness from the Ball State pitching staff and defensive miscues by the Cardinals to pick up the W.
With the score tied 2-2 in the top of the sixth, with runners at the corners and one out, pinch hitter Dominique Greeno (Lacy, Wash./North Thurston) laid down a sacrifice bunt to score Jessica Rio (Plainfield, Ill./Plainfield East) from third for the go-ahead run.
After holding the Cardinals scoreless in the bottom of the sixth, the Huskies tacked on an insurance run in the top of the seventh with a Katie Keller (Geneva, Ill./Geneva) homer to right field with two outs.
NIU struck first with two runs in the top of the second. After the leadoff batter grounded out, Ball State pitcher Tieghan Morio hit Abby Howlett (South Elgin, Ill./St. Charles North) to get things going for NIU. Hannah Goerke (South Bend, Ind./St. Joseph) then reached on an error to keep the inning going.
A Kara Apato (Oak lawn, Ill./Marist) single loaded the bases for NIU. However, the Huskies recorded their second out when Howlett was thrown out at home when Katie Lamich (Naperville, Ill./Naperville Central) reached on a fielder's choice.
With the bases still loaded, and now two outs, Sam Schmidt (Lombard, Ill./Willowbrook) coaxed a walk to score NIU's first run of the game. Jenny Van Geertry (Mokena, Ill./Lincoln-Way East) drove in the Huskies' second run of the inning when she was hit by a pitch, driving in Apato.
Ball State responded an inning later when the Cardinals scored two runs in the bottom of the third. However, pitcher Mackenzie Bryan (Elwood, Ind./Elwood) shut down the Cardinal offense the next four innings, not allowing a single hit the rest of the way.
"We did a nice job of having success on the little things today that helped us win," said NIU head coach Christina Sutcliffe. "Dom and Hannah were huge for us today. Kenzie did a great job in the circle and Keller adding that insurance run in the seventh allowed us to breathe a little with the top of their order to end the game."
The Huskies return home for a weekend set with Toledo at Mary M. Bell Field. First pitch for Friday's single game is set for 3 p.m., while Saturday's doubleheader will start at 1 p.m. Fans can watch all the games live via NIUTube and follow live stats on NIUHuskies.com.
-NIU-
