The wind may have been blowing out, but the NIU softball team wasn’t going to let it take all the credit for its home run outburst on Tuesday.

The Huskies hit a total of five home runs in their two victories over Valparaiso, after hitting 15 in their previous 27 games.

Even with the wind, NIU was not trying to hit home runs, NIU coach Donna Martin said.

“We don’t change our approach [with the wind],” Martin said. “We were seeing the ball pretty well and a few were wind aided, but I don’t think by that much. They had distance.”

Senior first baseman Toni Del Toro started the barrage of home runs with a two-run shot in the fourth inning of Game 1.

Then, with the game tied at eight in the bottom of the seventh, senior Kathy Dearborn stepped to the plate and ended the game with one swing.

Dearborn’s solo shot was her third home run of the season, but she said she wasn’t trying to end the game with the at-bat.

“Once you start trying to hit [home runs], that’s when you stop hitting them,” Dearborn said. “We were just hitting them in the air and if the wind takes it, then it takes it.”

Not to be outdone, Del Toro tacked on two more home runs in Game 2 of the double-header, bringing her season total to five.

“I don’t think the wind played much of a factor,” Del Toro said. “I wasn’t trying to hit home runs. I was just trying to make good solid hits, but the home runs were helping us score a lot of runs.”

Junior catcher Elyse Jamrozy added NIU’s other home run in Game 2 with a solo shot to center field in the bottom of the fourth inning.