TAMPA, Fla. – The Northern Illinois University softball team dropped a pair of games on day two of the USF Bulls Invitational Saturday morning at the USF Softball Field in Tampa. The Huskies sparked a late comeback in game one versus Army, but fell short, 4-3. Later in game two against Kansas, the Jayhawks shutout NIU behind eight hits, 5-0.
"Today we did a great job getting runners on, we just struggled to put the hits together," said head NIU coach
Christina Sutcliffe. "We'll look to bounce-back tomorrow and finish the trip strong."
GAME ONE: Army 4, NIU 3
Trailing 4-1, NIU scored two runs in the sixth inning to come within one run of Army. The comeback fell just short however after the Huskies left a runner stranded in the bottom of the seventh inning.
With
Lily Cassell (LaGrange, Ohio/Keystone) starting in the circle for NIU, the Black Knights struck first, scoring two runs in the first inning and one more in the third to take a 3-0 lead.
Caitlyn Shumaker (Bellefontaine, Ohio/Bellefontaine) got the Huskies on the board in the away half of the third when she blasted an RBI triple to center field, scoring
Courtney James (Fishers, Ind./Fishers) who was aboard after recording her fourth double of the year.
A solo shot over the left field fence in the fifth helped Army take a 4-1 lead before NIU got the bats going in the sixth inning.
After
Fiona Crane (Evergreen Park, Ill./Mother McAuley) reached on an error,
Trinity Jones Estrada (Sylmar, Calif./John F. Kennedy) walked and
Kelly Walinski (Worth, Ill./Marist) knocked an RBI single up the middle, scoring Crane.
In the same inning, NIU came within one when
Ally Rodriguez (Romeoville, Ill./Plainfield East) scored
Brianna Pechman (West Chicago, Ill./West Chicago Community) on a groundout RBI, but that was as close at the Huskies could get.
NOTES
- NIU scored three runs off six hits and had two errors
- Army scored four runs, had 10 hits, and two errors
- Cassell (0-3) threw two strikeouts
- Emily Dato (Munster, Ind./Munster), who relived Cassell, rang up three batters
- James was 2-3 in the batter's box
- Rodriguez was also 2-3 and had one RBI
- Shumaker and Walinski had one RBI each
GAME TWO: Kansas 5, NIU 0
NIU ran into stout pitching in Kansas' Kasey Hamilton (4-2) in game two. Hamilton, as well as Lizzy Ludwig, tossed a combined six strikeouts and shutout the Huskies, 5-0.
NIU's pitching staff was effective as well with
Danielle Stewart (Frankfort, Ill./Lincoln-Way East) (2-5) and
Claire Norred (Tipton, Ind./Tipton) combining for six strikeouts to match the Jayhawks.
The Huskies had opportunities to spark the offense late in the bottom of the fifth inning when Walinski and Stewart posted back-to-back one out singles. Kansas had other plans though and stranded the two runners after recording the final outs in the next two at-bats.
From there, the NIU bats cooled. In the bottom of the seventh, Ludwig retired the final three outs in order, sealing Kansas' win.
NOTES
- Kansas scored five runs off eight hits and had no errors
- NIU scored no runs off six hits and had one error
- The two-way player Stewart led in the box with two hits
- Shumaker, Mallinder, Walinski, and Cara Cruthers (Bartlett, Ill./South Elgin) logged hits as well
- Rylie Hartman (Herscher/Kankakee, Ill.) had a team-high four putouts
UP NEXT
NIU concludes action in the Bulls Invitational tomorrow (March 5) at 1 p.m. CT.
