Softball shut out by Northern Illinois in five innings
Grass Lake senior Abigail Niehaus is thrown the ball on third base April 3 at Margo Jonker Stadium.
After CMU softball toppled Northern Illinois 6-5 in the first round of the 2019 Mid-American Conference Tournament, the stakes were expected to be raised upon re-match.
NIU (12-21) brought the heat and shut out the Chippewas (4-19) 11-0 in a mercy five-inning weekend opener at Margo Jonker Stadium.
"We knew that they were going to give us their best game," said head coach McCall Salmon. "... We had a lot of what we call loud outs and we hit the ball hard. They made a lot of great plays and we made some key mistakes in certain situations that shifted the momentum a bit."
While the game did not move in the Chippewas' favor, Salmon notes that a four-game series allows plenty of opportunity to turn things around, something she mentioned to her team in a post-match huddle.
"We're going to use today as an opportunity to grow into tomorrow, and tomorrow's a new day, and let's come out fighting in game one tomorrow," Salmon said.
Impact moments
NIU wasted no time putting its efforts on the board as Carley Goetschius doubled to center field for one run in the top of the first.
The second inning harbored no runs, but NIU shattered the silence in the top of the third with a grand slam by Bianca Barone which brought the Huskies to a 5-0 lead, tacking on a one-run single in the fourth for 6-0.
The Huskies added five runs in the fifth inning, including a bases loaded walk and a two-run single from Megan Guericke, followed almost immediately after by another two-run single by Kelly Walinski to reach an 11 point lead.
The Chippewas struggled to find scoring opportunity and the match ended in five innings, NIU winning 11-0.
Key stats
Sophomore Skylar Coberley led the Chippewas with two hits.
Junior Kaitlyn Bean pitched 1 1/3 innings, allowing six runs on four hits and walking four. Freshman Grace Lehto stepped in for 1 1/3 innings, striking out one of 10 batters faced and allowing five runs on two hits.
NIU totaled seven hits with Barone and Guericke each taking two. Claire Norred pitched five scoreless innings, striking out four of 22 batters faced while issuing four hits and one walk.
Up next
The Chippewas and Huskies will return to Margo Jonker Stadium for a doubleheader starting at 1 p.m. Saturday.
