DeKALB, Ill. – The Northern Illinois University softball team earned an 8-7 win over Bradley before falling 4-1 to Saint Louis to conclude the Saint Louis Opening Round-Robin Sunday afternoon at the Billiken Sports Center.
"I don't think we came out playing our best ball today by any means, but to be able to fight through it and come back and win that first one and then give ourselves a chance in the second game is great," said head NIU coach
Christina Sutcliffe. "You're not always going to have your best stuff, but how do you play through that? How do you still compete?"
GAME ONE | NIU 8, BU 7
After trailing 5-1, NIU (9-10) exploded for seven runs in the sixth inning to gain its first lead of the day. The flurry of runs began when, with one out,
Ally Rodriguez (Romeoville, Ill./Plainfield East) singled then
Courtney James (Fishers, Ind./Fishers) and
Kelly Walinski (Worth, Ill./Marist) walked to load the bases.
In the ensuing at-bat,
Caitlyn Shumaker (Bellefontaine, Ohio/Bellefontaine) dug in and delivered a grand slam to right center to knot the game 5-5.
Sam Mallinder (Plainfield, Ill./Plainfield North) scored two at-bats later after
Delaney Ostrowski's (Geneseo, Ill./Geneseo) RBI double to give NIU the 6-5 advantage.
After a Bradley (7-14) pitching change, Ostrowski scored thanks to
Madison Mathews' (Yuma, Ariz./Cibola) pinch hit RBI single up the middle.
Finally, the Huskies' offensive explosion ended after a Braves' error allowed
Fiona Crane (Evergreen Park, Ill./Mother McAuley) to race home, increasing NIU's lead to 8-5.
Disaster nearly struck in the seventh inning when Bradley scored two runs off an error and an RBI single, but
Claire Norred (Tipton, Ind./Tipton) shut the door on the comeback after fanning the final two outs, sealing the Huskies' 8-7 win.
NOTES
- NIU scored eight runs off nine hits and had six errors
- BU scored seven runs off 10 hits and had three errors
- Lily Cassell (LaGrange, Ohio/Keystone) notched her first win of the season
- Norred logged her first save in the circle
- The four arms that appeared for NIU (Stewart, Cassell, Dato, and Norred) combined for eight strikeouts and just two walks
- Mallinder was 2-3 at the plate
- Shumaker was 2-4 and had a career-high four RBI after her second homer of the season
- Ostrowski and Matthews had one RBI apiece
GAME TWO | NIU 1, SLU 4
The Huskies' closer wasn't quite the offensive slugfest that game one was. After falling behind 1-0, NIU scored one run one the Billikens (6-14) in the fifth inning when James doubled to left center, scoring
Kacie Quick (Bloomington, Ill./Normal West) after she blasted a triple to left field.
Saint Louis took over in the home half of the fifth inning with a groundout RBI and a two RBI single, increasing their lead.
NIU had a chance to comeback in the seventh when
Cara Cruthers (Bartlett, Ill./South Elgin) put herself in scoring position with a double to left field and Rodriguez singled, but the pair were stranded as SLU held on to win the contest, 4-1.
NOTES
- NIU scored one run off eight hits and had no errors
- SLU scored four runs off four hits and had no errors
- Norred (2-1) was dealt her first loss of the year as the pitcher of record
- She had four Ks in five innings of work
- James led at the dish going 2-4 with an RBI
- Ostrowski was close behind going 2-3 and had one stolen base
- Brianna Pechman (West Chicago, Ill./West Chicago Community) also had a stolen bag
- Shumaker led on defense with seven putouts
UP NEXT
The Huskies have a quick turnaround as the team will stay in Missouri and take on Lindenwood (5-14) this Tuesday at 2 p.m. at the Lou Brock Sports Complex. NIU will then host Akron (10-8) at Mary M. Bell Field for its home and conference-opener Friday.
"We'll get a quick workout in tomorrow and then go back to focusing and getting our minds right for Lindenwood. The point of this weekend was to get us prepared for Akron coming up. So we're just worrying about first pitch against Lindenwood and taking care of business there so that we can come home and wrap up the non-conference season."
