DeKALB, Ill. – After a brief lightning delay at the beginning of game one, the Northern Illinois University softball team split its doubleheader with league-leading Ohio Saturday afternoon at Mary M. Bell field. The Huskies won game one 4-3, but fell 8-3 in the closer.
"If you said going into the day, we're going to split it, I probably would have been happy. But once we got into it, we just came out flat in that second game," said head NIU coach
Christina Sutcliffe.
Game One | NIU 4, Ohio 3
Just after the Bobcats (24-18, 14-6 MAC) sent a solo homer over the center field fence to start the game, a lighting strike in the vicinity forced the two teams inside. Once the all clear was given, the action resumed.
Leading off the second inning,
Sam Mallinder (Plainfield, Ill./Plainfield North) drilled a solo dinger to left center, knotting the contest 1-1. Five at-bats later,
Kiley Conner (St. John, Ind./Lake Central) delivered the go-ahead run thanks to a throwing error from Ohio's shortstop on her sprint to home plate.
Later in the third frame, Mallinder notched an RBI single, scoring
Kelly Walinski (Worth, Ill./Marist) as the Huskies went up 3-1.
Ohio came within one run twice through the remainder of the game, but
Courtney James' (Fishers, Ind./Fishers) bunt single RBI in the fourth kept the Bobcats in the cage. In the end, NIU held on to win the series opener 4-3.
Notes
- The Huskies scored four runs off eight hits and had one error
- The Bobcats scored three runs off six hits and had one error
- NIU stole seven bases in the win, two shy of its season-high which was set in game two versus Ball State
- Conner led NIU with a career-high three swipes
- Shumaker posted two
- Cara Cruthers (Bartlett, Ill./South Elgin) and Ally Rodriguez (Romeoville, Ill./Plainfield East) had one a piece
- Mallinder was 2-3 at the dish with a game-high two RBI
- Rodriguez was also 2-3
- Danielle Stewart (Frankfort, Ill./Lincoln-Way East) picked up her eighth win in the circle after tossing a full seven innings
- She garnered one K in the complete game win
"We like to play fast," said Sutcliffe regarding NIU's speed on the base paths. "That's consistent with who we are. That's how we practice, that's what we want to execute."
Game Two | Ohio 8, NIU 3
NIU fell behind 4-0 after the first 1 1/2 innings of play. The Huskies showed no quit though as Conner sent a solo home run over the send in the second inning to give NIU its first run of the ballgame. Rodriguez followed with a groundout RBI to cut the deficit in half.
Then in the third inning, Walinski notched a sac fly to score James, bringing the Huskies within one run at 4-3.
Ohio, however, put up four runs in the fourth inning to expand the gap to 8-3. With a new Bobcat pitching in the circle, no runs were scored through the remainder of the game as NIU fell 8-3.
"Unfortunately, we were unable to adjust the second kid they put in - she did a really nice job with us. We just have to go back and figure it out. We'll watch the film and figure out a little bit of a different strategy against those two kids. We're better than three runs in that second game. So, we'll go back and figure it out,"
Notes
- NIU scored three runs off six hits and had one error
- Ohio scored eight runs off nine hits and had one error
- Six Huskies logged one hit in the loss
- Walinski, Rodriguez and Conner had an RBI
- Delaney Ostrowski (Geneseo, Ill./Geneseo) was credited her first loss in the circle
Up Next
NIU and Ohio will play one more game tomorrow starting at noon. Following the action, the program will have a special ceremony for its graduating senior class. Fans are encouraged to stick around and help celebrate!
