ATHENS, Ohio – The Northern Illinois University softball team salvaged its series at Ohio by taking the second game of a doubleheader with the Bobcats at the Ohio Softball Field on Sunday.
NIU (6-11, 1-3) suffered a 4-3 setback to Ohio (7-6, 3-1) in the first game of the day, before unloading with a 12-2 victory over the Bobcats to pick up its first Mid-American Conference win of 2021.
The Huskies scored in every inning of the second game, except the first, pounding out 14 hits and capitalizing on one Bobcat error. NIU tallied two runs in the top of the second when
Carley Goetschius stole home on a double steal.
Izzy Smith singled to left center with two outs to drive in
Bianca Barone. Goetschius hit her second home run of the weekend with a shot to left to give the Huskies a 3-0 lead.
NIU added to its lead in the top of the fourth with a three spot, all with two outs.
Mackenzie Mahy walked with the bases loaded to score Smith.
Katie Keller scored two more with her ninth double of the season.
A six-run fifth put the game away for the Huskies. Back-to-back doubles from Barone and Mallinder kicked off the rally for NIU. Apato singled to advance Mallinder to third, who then stole home to extend the Huskie lead to 8-0. An
Amberly Rodriguez bunt single, with runners at second and third, scored the third run of the inning.
After a Mahy single drove in Smith, Barone delivered the big blow of the inning with a two-run single to give the Huskies a 12-0 lead. Ohio added two runs in the bottom of the fifth but that would be all the offense the Bobcats would muster.
Delaney Ostrowski was very effective in the circle, holding Ohio to just two runs on four hits, while walking three.
"Delaney did a fantastic job keeping the hitters off balance and got us out of some tight jams," NIU head coach
Christina Sutcliffe said. "It's nice to leave Athens putting all three parts of our game together. We need to take that momentum and move forward on a positive note."
A one-out solo home run in the bottom of the third proved to be the difference in the first game of the day.
After falling behind 3-0 after two Bobcats runs in the first and another in the second, the Huskies came back to tie the game, with a three-run third. Mahy singled with two on and one out to drive in the first run of the game. Two batters later, with two on and two outs, Goetschius tripled down the right field line to clear the bases and tie the game. Unfortunately, that would be the last Huskie run of the contest.
The Huskies return to the diamond Wednesday, Mar. 24 when NIU travels to Bloomington, Ill. for a midweek contest with Illinois State. First pitch is set for 4 p.m. CT and will appear on either ESPN3 or ESPN+.
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