NIU sophomore pitcher/utility Danielle “Dee Dee” Stewart pitched her first career no-hitter as the Huskies (16-29, 7-14 MAC) shut out conference bottom-dweller Bowling Green State University (5-33, 2-18 MAC) 7-0 to open the season series Friday at Meserve Field in Bowling Green, Ohio.
Stewart struck out 11 of the 22 batters she faced, one shy of her career-high. Her no-hitter was the first by a Huskie since Taryn Hagemann achieved the feat against the University at Buffalo on March 14, 2006.
“Dee Dee (Stewart) did a great job of keeping them (Bowling Green) off balance. It’s hard to have a home run and a no-hitter in the same game, so her accomplishing that today is special,” said NIU softball head coach Christina Sutcliffe via NIU Athletics. “We covered their attacks and saw some great defensive plays, including a great catch by (senior catcher/outfielder) Ellis (Erickson) in the outfield.”
On top of her silencing performance at the mound, Stewart batted in two runs off two hits, the first being an RBI single to open the scoring in the first inning.
Freshman outfielder Katy Ramage tacked on an RBI single of her own before Stewart struck again in the third inning with her seventh home run of the season.
After a scoreless fifth inning, senior infielder Caitlyn Shumaker recorded the first of her two RBIs to score junior outfielder/middle infielder Avery Carnahan.
The Huskies closed out the contest with a pair of seventh-inning runs from Ellis Erickson and junior middle infielder/outfielder Jenna Turner.
“Against Bowling Green today, we did a good job of staying patient against their pitching staff today, and our pitching staff is ready for tomorrow,” Sutcliffe said. “We have some nice momentum at the end of the season, and the pieces are starting to fall into place.”
The series between NIU and Bowling Green resumes at noon CT Saturday to kick off a doubleheader . A stream of the first game will be available on ESPN+. Live statistics will be presented by SIDEARM Sports.
