ATHENS, Ohio – Led by an offensive outburst from junior Sam Mallinder (Plainfield, Ill./Plainfield North), the Northern Illinois University softball team rolled to a doubleheader sweep over host Ohio University by scores of 10-5 and 10-7 Saturday afternoon in Mid-American Conference play.

Mallinder went a combined 4 for 10 at the plate with a two-run home run and five total RBI as the Huskies shelled out 26 hits in improving their record to 13-22 overall.

"Our offense is really rolling well right now," Huskies head coach Christina Sutcliffe said. "The last three games they've done a really nice job and our pitching did enough to get us through."

Sophomore pitcher Emily Dato (Munster, Ind./Munster) went the distance in Game 1 as she earned her fifth complete game of the year. She fanned five batters and picked up her sixth win of the season.

NIU was facing a 6-3 deficit in the fifth inning when it responded with a six-run sixth highlighted by an RBI single from Mallinder and a two-run triple from Avery Carnahan (Johnston, Iowa/Johnston). A bunt single from Kara Apato (Oak Lawn, Ill./Marist) allowed Katie Keller (Geneva, Ill./Geneva) to score in the seventh that gave the Huskies an insurance run.

"We knew they had two pitchers so we just had to stay patient with our at bats, get through the line up three or four times and gain as much information as we could," Sutcliffe said. "We did a nice job doing that and then in the sixth and seventh innings we did a nice job of scoring runs and producing."

In Game 2, Ohio again staked an early advantage at 5-2 through four innings, but again the Huskies had an answer and countered with two in the second on a two-RBI single from Kelly Walinski (Worth, Ill./Marist) and five in the seventh. Bianca Barone (Machesney Park, Ill./Harlem) connected for a solo home run, Mackenzie Mahy (New Lenox, Ill./Lincoln Way West) looped an RBI single and Walinski laced a run-scoring double to left center highlighting the frame which put NIU in command.

Both Claire Norred (Tipton, Ind./Tipton) and Delaney Ostrowski (Geneseo, Ill./Geneseo) combined to shut the Bobcats offense down as Norred tossed four innings and Ostrowski earned her fourth win in relief as she gave up no runs on two hits for NIU, which closes out the series tomorrow at 11 am CT.

"We just need to keep doing the same thing, staying patient at the plate, because we know what we're going to see," Sutcliffe said. "We did a really nice job of taking advantage of some mistakes they made in the field and we need to keep running aggressively."

-NIU-