DEKALB, Ill. – The Northern Illinois University softball team came out on the short end of a near perfect defensive game in its 3-1, 9-inning loss to visiting Kent State University in Mid-American Conference play Friday afternoon.

Despite one error, the Huskies displayed solid defense – highlighted by Kara Apato's (Oak Lawn, Ill./Marist) throw out at the plate to end the eighth inning and preserve a 1-1 tie at the time.

"That's the best defense we've played in quite some time," Huskies head coach Christina Sutcliffe said. "So it was nice to see us get back to the basics and be able to do that. That's the team we have the potential to be every single day so I'll take that performance any day."

Kent State took the lead for good in the ninth inning when its cleanup hitter connected for a two-run home run, but NIU kept itself in contention after Apato's play. The Golden Flashes hit back-to-back singles with two outs in the eighth when their No. 9 hitter connected for a single to center field. Apato calmly fielded the ball and threw a perfect strike to Katie Keller (Geneva, Ill./Geneva) who in turn made the tag on Kent State's Delaney Robeson.

"Apato had a really good game and she had some catches including one that saved us an inning before that," Sutcliffe said. "It was a similar play like last week as well and she made that as well so she's been doing a really nice job."

Kent State took a 1-0 lead in the fourth inning on a run-scoring single, but the Huskies responded in the sixth inning when Sam Mallinder (Plainfield, Ill./Plainfield North) led off with a double, advanced to third on Bianca Barone's (Machesney Park, Ill./Harlem) sacrifice bunt and scored on Mackenzie Mahy's (New Lenox, Ill./Lincoln Way West) RBI sacrifice fly to left field. NIU had a key opportunity to take the lead in the bottom of the fifth when it loaded the bases with Avery Carnahan (Johnston, Iowa/Johnston), Kelly Walinski (Worth, Ill. /Marist) and Apato, but the next two batters went down in order.

"That's kind of been our common theme this year especially as of late," Sutcliffe said. "Our at bats with runners in scoring position, we're doing great at getting them on but we haven't figured out how to be a little more disciplined and more effective to get them in."

Sophomore Claire Norred (Tipton, Ind./Tipton) suffered the loss in the pitcher's circle as she went the distance. She yielded only two earned runs while striking out two batters for the Huskies (10-20, 4-11), who look to rebound in the doubleheader matchup with Kent State tomorrow with the first game beginning at 1 p.m.

"We just need to shorten our swings a little bit when we get runners on," Sutcliffe said. "Obviously we're going to see their pitcher (Jessica) Lebeau at some point so we'll see pitches down in the zone. We'll just need to stay low and attack it."

-NIU-