Victorious in its last three games, NIU softball came into its home game against DePaul looking to win its fourth game in-a-row.

However, the Huskies (16-21, 3-5 MAC) fell to the Blue Demons, 6-1.

“DePaul beat us,” said NIU coach Lindsay Chouinard. “DePaul is a good team, and more so than that, we didn’t come out to compete to beat a good team today.”

The Blue Demons (22-12) took the lead in the second inning, on a two-out single by Allie Braden which scored both Katelyn Braget and Mary Connolly to make the score, 2-0.

DePaul’s Paige Peterson led off the fourth inning with a triple to right field. The next batter, Bree Brown, immediately doubled to right field, driving in Peterson from second, increasing the lead, 3-0.

In the bottom of the fifth inning, the Huskies got their lone run on a two-out RBI double by Emily Woller that drove in Erika Oswald from second base, making the score 3-1.

Peterson stayed hot in the top of the seventh inning, as she blasted a two-run home run over the left-center field fence, driving in pinch-runner Ali Lenti from second base.

“She squared the ball up and got good pitches to hit,” said DePaul coach Eugene Lenti. “That’s the simple formula for success; you have to get good pitches and when you get them, you have to put the bat on the ball.”

Kirsten Verdun threw a complete game for DePaul, allowing three hits and one run, while striking out eight batters.

“It’s the fact that she keeps the ball down,” Lenti said. “She can throw it up and down when she wants. She can also change speeds. She has a pretty good little changeup that gets hitters on their front foot, which gets a lot of ground balls right back at her.”