Two key Saturday victories powered the NIU softball squad to a second-place finish in the Western Illinois ‘Winds Classic Tournament in Macomb, Ill.

The Huskies scored three runs in the bottom of the seventh inning to slip past Ohio State, 8-7, in Saturday’s first game. NIU, 10-14-1, maintained its emotional high in game two against North Star Conference rival Wisconsin-Green Bay for a 3-0 win.

The two Saturday wins, combined with a 1-2 tournament showing Friday, gave NIU a 3-2 tournament record, good for second place. Host WIU won its third-traight Classic championship with a 4-1 five-game mark.

“We showed improvement under some tough tournament conditions weather-wise and opponent-wise,” NIU head coach Dee Abrahamson said. The five-game tournament, plus a Thursday doubleheader with WIU, equaled a seven-games-in-three-days marathon for the Huskies.

Big offense and solid defensive efforts sparked NIU Saturday.

Down 7-5 in the bottom of the seventh, NIU slugged six-straight one-out hits off Ohio State’s Donna Rupolo to score three runs for the come-from-behind 8-7 victory. NIU led 5-0 after five innings, but gave up one run in the sixth and six in the seventh to trail OSU by two runs in the middle of the seventh. Julie Sexton scored the winning NIU run from third on a Mary Borem hit to the shortstop. NIU shelled Rupolo for 15 hits, which included one Sexton double.

Rachel Ortiz notched the victory, and Jeanne Richeal collected two RBIs for the Huskies.

NIU controlled UW-GB from the start. Richeal scored the first two of NIU’s three runs on a Sexton double and Heidi Hutchison single in the first and third innings, respectively. Ree Zenner, who missed Friday’s tournament action with a class conflict, scored run number three on a Kim Crotinger single to left field. Freshman hurler Ortiz allowed only three hits in the last four UW-GB innings to notch her second win of the day.

NIU opened the ‘Winds Classic Friday with back-to-back losses to Bradley (3-2) and DePaul (8-3), before holding host WIU for a 2-1 win. The Huskies scattered 22 hits over the three games, including an 11-hit slugfest against DePaul.

Lori Reimer collected an RBI triple in the fifth inning against Bradley, who scored its winning run in the bottom of the eighth. Ortiz took the loss for NIU.

NIU opened the scoring against DePaul in the first inning with a 1-0 lead, but by the fourth inning the Blue Demons were up 8-1. The Huskies scored one in the bottom of the fourth and one in the sixth thanks in part to Borem, who opened the inning with a three-bagger. Lisa Gilfoy had a double and Maria Leake took the loss for NIU, which outhit DePaul 11-6.

NIU returns to DeKalb to face Adelphi University in a Monday 3 p.m. doubleheader on the Huskie Varsity Diamond. Both NIU and Adelphi finished in the NCAA Elite Eight in 1988 and are playing each other for the first time.