At a point in the season where it really needed to pick up wins at a rapid pace, softball went on the road and swept Kent State and Buffalo.

NIU (17-26, 7-7 MAC) traveled to Kent State (21-16-1, 11-5 MAC) on Friday to take on a squad that had only lost three conference games to that point.

Sophomore Huskie pitcher Emily Norton pitched a complete game in the first matchup of the Kent State doubleheader by only giving up one run and striking out eight.

Junior outfielder Nicole Gremillion paced the Huskie offense, going 3-3 with an RBI and two runs scored of the five, as NIU came out on top 5-1.

Heading into the second game later in the day, head coach Christina Sutcliffe decided to go with Norton once more and was rewarded for her decision.

Norton pitched all but the last two outs of the second game, giving up three runs and striking out six. Jessica Sturm came on in relief to record the save and seal the sweep of the Golden Flashes.

Junior outfielder Ashley Kopp hit her team-leading seventh homer to lead the Huskies to their 5-3 victory.

Sutcliffe believes Norton really stepped up in the second game, as she exceeded her coach’s expectations.

“She just did a great job of spotting her pitches in the correct counts and attacking the hitters,” Sutcliffe said. “We had no intention of pitching her both games at Kent, but she really had them off guard. The two hits were kind of cheap hits and we were going to try and ride her at least for four but she was able to continue into the seventh.”

The series against Buffalo was turned into a doubleheader on Sunday because of a postponed Saturday game.

Sutcliffe believes taking both games against Kent State helped the morale of the team going into Buffalo (12-26, 5-9 MAC).

NIU used a little bit more of an offensive approach to win the first game, as the game went into extra innings. After NIU went up 3-1 in the top of the fourth, Buffalo tied it up in the bottom of the fifth with a two spot.

The score remained locked there until the top of the eighth, when NIU hit two homers, as Gremillion hit a two run shot and Jennifer Barnett had a solo shot. Norton gave up one run in the bottom of the eighth, but was able to hold on and pick up her third win in three games as she pitched the last two innings of the game in relief of Sturm.

The bats and pitching combined to finish the second sweep of the weekend as the Huskies defeated Buffalo 6-0 in the second game. NIU was led by Norton on the mound once again, as she pitched a two-hit shutout.

NIU put up four runs in the top of the second, and that held on to be more than enough for Norton as she picked up her fourth win in four games and proved to be the main thread of a two-series sweep. Sutcliffe believes defense and power hitting was also a large reason for NIU’s success.

“Our defense held strong. We had a couple defensive errors against Buffalo, but we were able to put up enough offense up on them,” Sutcliffe said. “The fact that we’re showing power…is nice, a little unexpected, but its something we’re able to build off of.”

The four wins came at the right time, as NIU needed to make up wins on their division leaders and Sutcliffe believes the weekend provided a much-needed string of victories and bodes well for future games.

“I think the kids think[ing] they could sweep not only one but two opponents builds their confidence going into this week,” Sutcliffe said. “Pulling into .500 puts us in a good place. I think we went into Kent trying at the very least to split; winning both games definitely gave them confidence going into Buffalo. To have this roadtrip and go 4-0 speaks volumes for their battle and their character.”