BOWLING GREEN, Ohio – The Northern Illinois University softball team used a combination of small ball and a high-powered attack to sweep a doubleheader from Bowling Green State University by scores of 1-0 and 5-3 to open Mid-American Conference play Friday morning.

The Huskies utilized 13 hits combined, and engineered the lone run in Game 1 on a sacrifice bunt while collecting two extra base hits to produce two of their five runs in the second game.

"Anytime you can start the MAC 2-0 it puts you in a good situation for the weekend," Huskies head coach Christina Sutcliffe said. "Our goal is to win every weekend in conference play so it was nice to get us off to a great start."

NIU produced all the offense it needed in the fourth inning of the first game when senior Katie Keller singled, stole second, advanced to third on a sacrifice bunt from Kelly Walinski and scored on Bianca Barone's sacrifice bunt.

From there sophomore pitcher Emily Dato held the Falcons in check, giving up only one hit in the final three innings. She went the distance in earning her fourth win of the year as she struck out four batters and walked one.

"Our defense made some really good plays that got us off the field," Sutcliffe said. "Our outfield had two assisted double plays and Sam Mallinder played some really good defense at second base to help us out."

The Huskies set the tone early in Game 2 as they opened up their lead through three innings. Walinski connected for an RBI single in the first, Courtney James laced a run-scoring triple down the left field line in the second and Ellis Erickson connected for an RBI double while Barone ripped a run-scoring single in the third inning to put NIU in command.

"We won the second game just by out-hitting them early on and our pitching really bore down on them between all three of our pitchers," Sutcliffe said.

NIU used the pitching combination of Claire Norred and Delaney Ostrowski to keep BGSU in check. While Norred worked four strong innings, fanning two batters, Ostrowski shut the Falcons out in the final three innings while striking out one batter.

Walinski, James, Avery Carnahan, Keller and Amberly Rodriguez each scored a run for the Huskies (8-9, 2-0), who close out the series with BGSU tomorrow at 10 am.

"We just need to continue to stick to the plan and stay disciplined," Sutcliffe said. "They're going to throw their number one pitcher tomorrow so we'll just need to get extra base hits when our runners are in scoring position and play well."

-NIU-