Leading the No. 1 team in the Big Ten 1-0 in the third inning, the NIU softball team failed to hold on in its 6-3 loss Wednesday at Northwestern.

NU put together three consecutive two-run innings before the Huskies (21-25) scored two runs of their own in the top of the seventh.

NIU catcher Elyse Jamrozy went 2-for-3 with two RBIs and scored two runs against NU (37-12).

The Huskies have lost 14 of their last 17 games with three games remaining in the season.

On Friday, NIU travels to Ball State to begin a three-game series that will conclude with a double-header starting at noon Saturday.

The series against BSU (19-34 overall, 6-13 MAC) will be the last of the Huskies games this spring before the MAC Tournament begins May 11.

As of Wednesday, Marshall, Central and Western Michigan, Bowling Green and Miami-Ohio are five of the eight teams already in the tournament.

Buffalo and Kent State need to win one of their final three games this weekend to get in.

Eastern Michigan needs to win one less game than NIU this weekend to claim a spot. So, if NIU sweeps BSU, EMU needs to win at least two games against WMU to move into the tournament.

Akron is the final team vying for a position. If EMU fails to meet the above requirements, Akron can get in by matching NIU’s win total from this coming weekend.

If EMU and Akron don’t meet the above criteria, the Huskies can make the tournament if they can defeat BSU.

“We can’t play all three games at once,” NIU coach Donna Martin said. “But we have no reason to hold anything back and everyone’s ready to go.”

The Huskies are batting .256 as a team to BSU’s .215 and averaging one more run per game.

On defense, BSU has a team ERA of 3.54. NIU hurlers have a combined 2.72 ERA and are led on the mound by junior transfer Lindsey LaChiana’s 13 wins and 136 strikeouts.

“You can’t take statistics too far,” Martin said. “We want to control what we can control, put the best team out there and make changes when we need to.”