DEKALB, Ill. – The Northern Illinois University softball team took the season series from Toledo when it split its doubleheader with the Rockets at Mary M. Bell Field Saturday.
NIU (20-21, 7-7) took the rubber game, 4-1, after falling to the Rockets (16-22, 5-6), 8-3 in game one. After a pair of high scoring games to start the series, the Huskies found themselves in a pitcher's duel in the series finale.
"Compared to the other two games, we weren't expecting what happened in game three after all the hitters seeing the pitchers so much for it to be a pitcher's duel," said NIU head coach Christina Sutcliffe. "Hunt did a really nice job against us after seeing us that many times so kudos to her."
Both Mackenzie Bryan (Elwood, Ind./Elwood) and Toledo pitcher Erin Hunt put zeros up on the board through the first four and two-thirds innings. Toledo's Katie Cozy scored the first run of the game on a solo home run over the right field fence in the top of the fifth.
The Huskies came back to take the lead in the bottom of the inning. Katie Lamich (Naperville, Ill./Naperville North) led off the inning with a double down the left field line and Jenny Van Geertry (Mokena, Ill./Lincoln-Way East) drove her in with a single up the middle.
Van Geertry moved into scoring position as she advanced to second when the Rockets tried to get Lamich at home. Her heads up base running paid off as Kayla Scaperotta (Coral Springs, Fla./Coral Springs Charter School), who came in to pinch hit, drilled a single down the left field line, scoring Van Geertry and giving NIU a 2-1 lead.
Sam Schmidt (Lombard, Ill./Willowbrook) gave Bryan and the Huskies a little more cushion in the bottom of the sixth. With a runner at first and one out, the Huskie senior blasted a two-run homer over the left field fence.
"When she can center the ball, it's going to go," Sutcliffe said. "She was due for one of those. She's provided an awesome spark plug for us in down in the bottom of the order."
Bryan retired the Huskies in order in the top of the seventh to seal the win. She allowed one run on five hits and three base on balls on the day to improve to 12-10 on the year.
"It was nice to see her bounce back from yesterday," she said. "Obviously, to come back with a new mentality today and shut them down allowing only one run was huge."
The Huskies were unable to recover from an early 5-0 deficit in the first game of the day. Toledo plated three runs in the top of the first and two more in the second. NIU scored a run in the bottom of the third, however, the Rockets extended their lead to 7-1 with two more runs in the fourth.
NIU got those two runs back in the bottom of the inning on a solo homer by Kira Mickelson (Wheatland, Wis./Westosha Central) and a RBI groundout by Dominique Greeno (Lacey, Wash./North Thurston). Unfortunately, those would be the last runs for the Huskies.
The Huskies return to action Wednesday when NIU plays host to Loyola in a doubleheader. First pitch for game one is set for 3 p.m. with the second game to follow. Fans can watch all the games live via NIUTube and follow live stats on NIUHuskies.com.
-NIU-
