Softball | April 18

DeKALB, Ill. – The Northern Illinois University softball team takes a break from MACaction as it travels east to take on in-state foe DePaul tomorrow (April 19).

WHEN AND WHERE
NIU travels to DePaul for a 2 p.m. date at Cacciatore Stadium in Chicago. The stadium is located at 900 West Belden Avenue, Chicago, IL 60614.

HOW TO FOLLOW
Tomorrow's game will stream live on FloSoftball. Come game time, live stats will be available for the contest as well.

THE HISTORY
In a series that dates to 1978, the Huskies trail 24-41 in all-time meetings. DePaul has won the last 16-straight meetings with NIU's last victory over the Blue Demons coming on May 2, 2000.

Last season, the Huskies hosted DePaul at Mary M. Bell Field and fell 11-8

LAST TIME OUT
NIU (19-19, 9-7 MAC) is coming off a doubleheader split versus league-leading Ohio (24-18, 14-6 MAC) at home last Saturday. In the opener, the Huskies notched a come-from-behind 4-3 win. Second baseman Sam Mallinder drove in a team-high two RBI and was 2-3 at the plate.

Prior to facing Ohio, pitcher Emily Dato (4-1) logged a career-high six Ks and tossed six scoreless innings in NIU's 7-1 win over Valpo last week. In the win, only two of her five hits went for extra bases after tossing her first complete-game win of the year. After making a no-run and two-hit four-inning appearance against Ohio last Saturday, Dato allowed just seven hits in 11.0 innings of work.

First baseman Caitlyn Shumaker added two stolen bases to her resume against the Bobcats, bringing her season total to 25, which ranks No. 24 in the nation. Likewise, she ranks No. 15 in stolen bases per game with .68. Center fielder Courtney James is No. 4 in the MAC with 14 bags stolen while left fielder Ally Rodriguez is fifth with 13. Rounding out the Huskie speedsters are Cara Cruthers and Fiona Crane with 12 and 10, respectively. As a team, NIU is eighth in the nation with 2.61 swipes per game.

SCOUTING THE OPPONENT
DePaul (12-24, 4-11 BIG EAST) is coming off a three-game series loss to Seton Hall (29-12, 12-3 BIG EAST) last weekend. The Blue Demons are tied for seventh place in the conference standings with Creighton and Providence.  

Anna Wohlers leads DePaul's offensive attack with a .383 batting average and 41 hits thus far in 2023. Brooke Johnson is also batting north of .300 with her .364 average.

Katey Pierce (1-1) has a team-low ERA of 5.83. Brenna Smith (2-5) has the most innings pitched on the team with 37.1.

LOOKING AHEAD
The Huskies will return to action this weekend as they'll take on Toledo (16-21, 9-10 MAC) in a three-game road series April 21-22.

FOLLOW THE HUSKIES
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