CHICAGO – The Northern Illinois University softball team dismantled DePaul in shutout fashion, 6-0, on the road Wednesday afternoon. The win marked NIU's first victory over the Blue Demons since 2000, snapping a 16-game skid against DePaul (12-25).
"It was nice to see us bring all three sides of our defense today," said head NIU coach
Christina Sutcliffe. "We were able to get a couple of people some extra playing time and some reps at different positions, so that was good as well. We came here with a plan and obviously, we executed it pretty well. It took us a little bit to get going, but it was nice to see us make some adjustments and put some runs on the board,"
NIU 6, DePaul 0
With
Lily Cassell (LaGrange, Ohio/Keystone) starting in the circle for the Huskies (20-19), the game was scoreless after the first two innings. NIU took its first lead in the third frame when
Kelly Walinski (Worth, Ill./Marist) logged a groundout RBI, scoring
Caitlyn Shumaker (Bellefontaine, Ohio/Bellefontaine).
Cassell kept the heat coming on the rubber while NIU sparked a four-run fifth inning to take a 5-0 lead.
Courtney James (Fishers, Ind./Fishers) started the barrage by scoring Shumaker and
Ellis Erickson (Lutz, Fla./Freedom) with a single to right field. Then,
Kelly Walinski (Worth, Ill./Marist) drove in two RBI with her single to left.
Sam Mallinder (Plainfield, Ill./Plainfield North) capped the action with an RBI double to right center.
After
Cara Cruthers (Bartlett, Ill./South Elgin) drilled a leadoff triple to start the sixth,
Trinity Jones Estrada (Sylmar, Calif./John F. Kennedy) dug in and delivered a groundout RBI to make NIU's lead 6-0.
Emily Dato (Munster, Ind./Munster) came in to pitch the seventh inning and the Huskies' defense allowed no runs to seal the squad's third shutout this season.
Notes
- NIU scored six runs off nine hits and had one error
- DePaul scored no runs off five hits and had two errors
- Cassell improved her record to 4-8 in the circle
- She fanned five Blue Demons through 26 batters faced
- Walinski had a game-high three RBI, tying her season-high
- James, Cruthers and Kiley Conner (St. John, Ind./Lake Central) were 2-4 at the dish
- Shumaker stole one base to bring her season total to 26, tying NIU's single season record
"[
Caitlyn Shumaker's] a master at her craft. I'm glad that she tied it, and we'll see how far she can go from here,"
Up Next
The Huskies return to MAC play this weekend (April 21-22) when they face Toledo (16-21, 9-10 MAC) on the road. NIU and the Rockets will play a single game Friday at 2 p.m. CT while a doubleheader will close the action on Saturday.
"We must go into Toledo and take care of business. They know it's a big series, we know it's big series, and we've got to figure out how to just put one run better than them on the board for three games straight."
