While the Huskies didn’t see anything amusing about April Fool’s Day Saturday, the NIU softball squad got the last laugh.

Despite losing both of its games on Saturday, the Huskies (18-3) took the initiative Sunday and found themselves playing for and winning the championship trophy at the Creighton University Bud Light/Lady Jay Invitational.

It was a long road for NIU. The 12th-ranked Huskies lost 2-1 to Bradley Saturday and lost 5-1 against ninth-ranked host Creighton in the nightcap. But, NIU’s record turned out not to be a thorn in its side. Earlier in the day, Wichita State beat Bradley 3-2 in nine innings. WS, however, couldn’t come up with a win against Creighton and lost 7-4. This meant both Bradley and Wichita State held 1-1 marks.

Because the Huskies won Sunday morning’s meeting against WS with a 3-0 score, and Creighton defeated Bradley 6-3, all three teams were tied with 1-2 records. So who would get the chance to take on Creighton in the championship game? The team with the best run differential (number of runs scored minus the number of runs given up). NIU had just that.

The Huskies second meeting with the Lady Jays wasn’t anything like the first. NIU scored five runs off of eight hits compared to Creighton’s one run off of eight hits.

“We did get some good experience,” NIU coach Dee Abrahamson said about the weekend. “We were disappointed about (Saturday), but we worked.”

Lisa Gilfoy used her bat in helping the Huskies to their victory. In the first inning, with runners on second and first, Gilfoy smacked the ball over the fence for a 3-0 lead. During the second inning, Lori Reimer singled and stole second base. Junior Heidi Hutchison got an RBI after hitting a single to score Reimer.

In the fifth, Gilfoy again used her powerful swing for a solo homerun. Creighton scored its only run in the third. Freshman Kristin Vandenhouten (3-0) was the winning pitcher, while NIU senior Beth Schrader recorded the save.

“We went with Kristin because she throws low and off speed,” Abrahamson said. “We wanted to throw Creighton off, but we knew we couldn’t go with it over and over. We thought she’d make it through the fifth.”

With bases loaded in the fifth inning, Abrahamson decided an adjustment needed to be made. Schrader was brought in and got NIU out of the tight situation.

NIU doesn’t have much time to rest. After playing on an astroturf field, the Huskies have to don their metal cleats for Tuesday’s game against Iowa at DeKalb’s McCormick Park.