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Madison Mathews
Scott Walstrom, NIU
3
Northern Ill. NIU 9-23
6
Winner Ohio OHIO 20-18
Northern Ill. NIU
9-23
3
Final
6
Ohio OHIO
20-18
Winner
Score By Periods
Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 R H E
Northern Ill. NIU 0 0 0 0 1 0 2 3 7 3
Ohio OHIO 0 0 0 2 3 1 X 6 7 2

W: E. Greene (1-1) L: Stewart, Danielle (5-7)

Game Recap: Softball |

Mathews Homers as Huskies Fall to Ohio

ATHENS, Ohio— Starting off as a pitchers' battle, the Northern Illinois University Huskies women's softball team and the Ohio University Bobcats scored all of the runs in the final four innings of play. The Huskies fell to the Bobcats in the final game of the series, falling 6-3. With the loss, the Huskies move to 9-23 on the season and 3-9 in MAC play.
 
"We made some defensive errors and couldn't get off the inning when we needed to," said NIU head coach Christina Sutcliffe. "I think we got caught off guard and didn't execute our plan accordingly. However, we put a lot of good balls into play on the offensive side for us. We have to continue to learn and grow and we are going to go back to the basics for our series at Bradley and for Toledo next weekend."
 
During her first two innings in the circle, Danielle Stewart (Frankfort, Ill./Lincoln-Way East) faced seven batters from Ohio and retired six batters. Stewart went 4.2 innings, had two of the three strikeouts for the Huskies and issued two walks.
 
Ellis Erickson (Lutz, Fla./Freedom) recorded the first hit of the game for either team, doubling to left field in the top of the third inning. Erickson has had a hit in the last 12 games for the Huskies.

Madison Mathews (Yuma, Ariz./Cibola) hit her third home run of the season in the top of the fifth frame, putting the Huskies on board with a home run to left field. Alana Powell (Chicago, Ill./Kenwood Academy) got the first hit of her Huskie career, singling to center field to reach base.
 
The fourth and fifth innings saw the Bobcats take a 5-1 lead over the Huskies, collecting five hits and one error. The Bobcats added their final run of the series in the bottom of the sixth, taking a 6-1 lead over the Huskies.
 
Heading into the final frame, Powell reached on an error by the Bobcats before recording her first stolen base of the season. Powell crossed home plate on Jenna Turner's (Marengo, Ill./Marengo) RBI single. Turner scored the final Huskie run of the day, coming around to home on Stewart's sacrifice fly to right field.
 
Huskie Notes
  • Powell recorded her first hit of her career in her fifth appearance as a Huskie.
  • With Mathews' home run, the Huskies have had back-to-back weekends with a home run in two different games. The Huskies had a home run in each of the games on March 30 against Kent State and on March 16 against Central Michigan.
  • Stewart had a hit in two of the three games against Ohio, mirroring her performance against Kent State (March 29-30).
  • In yesterday's (April 6) first game against Ohio, Caitlyn Shumaker (Bellefontaine, Ohio/Bellefontaine) became the first Huskie to have two home runs in a game since Sam Mallinder vs Buffalo on May 8, 2022.
The Huskies will take a mid-week pause from conference action as they travel to Bradley for a non-conference doubleheader. First pitch is set for 2 p.m. in Peoria, Illinois.
 
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