Softball failed to string together wins, dropping three of its first four conference games over the weekend.

The Huskies (11-16, 1-3 MAC) split their two-game series vs. the Bowling Green Falcons (11-16-1, 2-2 MAC) Friday and Saturday at Mary M. Bell Field. They then dropped both games of their Sunday doubleheader vs. the Toledo Rockets (11-19, 3-1 MAC).

Bowling Green

The Huskies lost the opening game, 6-4, after their seventh-inning comeback came up short.

Trailing 6-1, the Huskies opened the top of the seventh with center fielder Jordyn Bowen and third baseman Ashley Kopp reaching on errors and right fielder Bryanna Phelan legging out an infield single. Left fielder Nicole Gremillion then drove in one run with a single to right-center field.

After a bases-loaded line out, first baseman Kayti Grable singled up the middle, driving in two runs and pulling the Huskies within two, 6-4; however, a fielder’s choice followed by a ground out ended the game.

“I thought they still continued to have that fight at the end,” said head coach Christina Sutcliffe. “I think our one through five [batters are] just really hard to pitch to, so when [they’re] getting that many at-bats in game it’s tough to keep them off balance.”

The Falcons jumped out to a 5-0 lead after two innings. The Huskies got one run back in the third inning, but the Falcons pushed the lead back to five in the fourth inning before the Huskies’ rally fell short.

“Our defense was pretty shaky today all around,” Sutcliffe said. “We just weren’t throwing to the right bases. We weren’t really mentally sound on what we should be doing. … We weren’t thinking early on.”

In the second game, the Huskies’ offense came to life, pounding out 14 hits to score 10 runs en route to a 10-3 victory, NIU’s first conference win.

“[We] actually made the pitchers pay for their mistakes today,” Sutcliffe said. “[Our batters] got a couple balls up in the zone, and they were able to capitalize on that, where [Friday] I don’t think we did a very good job with that. I think they just kind of took the pitch they wanted and were able to drive it today.”

Pitcher Becca Rupard went all seven innings, giving up three runs, one earned, on six hits and one walk while striking out three batters.

“Becca did awesome,” Sutcliffe said. “Coming in, going all seven innings after getting hit a little bit yesterday, [she] did a good job. It’s easier to pitch when you’re up 7-2 than when you are behind [6-1]. … We never allowed them to get the momentum and grab it like they did [Friday].”

Toledo

After the Huskies jumped out to a 1-0 lead in the top of the second, Toledo posted a four-spot in the bottom of the second on four hits and two walks.

NIU got two runs back in the third and one run in the fourth to tie the game, 4-4. NIU put up one run in the fifth to take a 5-4 lead on a Jessica Sturm RBI triple.

Toledo posted its second big-run inning in the fifth, scoring six runs to go up five, 10-5.

In the seventh, the Huskies’ comeback attempt came up short. They scored four runs but left the tying run stranded on second base. They stranded a total of 11 runners and lost, 10-9.

“Anything over five [stranded runners] is too many,” Sutcliffe said. “In the same sense, you’re scoring nine runs, so you can’t really be mad. When you’re scoring nine runs it’s a great offensive day.”

In the second game, Toledo continued its hot hitting. The Rockets put up five runs on eight hits in the first two innings.

Toledo added four more runs in the bottom of the fourth and went on to win, 9-0.

The Huskies were held to zero runs on one hit.

“I think we were swinging guessing,” Sutcliffe said. “We put a lot of check swings into play. … We’re allowing our mental defeats to go with us from at-bat to at-bat, pitch to pitch, and [we] fell apart.”