Neither rain, nor knee injury, nor 10-hour bus rides can stop the success of the NIU softball team.

Nothing but ‘hi’ times in Ohio as the women pull off the Easter weekend four-game sweep, outscoring their opponents 24-3.

Two shutouts, a one-hitter and first place in the Mid-Continent Conference were results of the journey to Cleveland State (Friday) and Wright State (Saturday).

On Friday, in the opener, Tracy Meade hurled 12 strikeouts at the Vikings en route to the 8-0 Huskie victory.

NIU got all the runs it needed in the second inning—one.

Mary Borem raced home on a Denise Bloy sacrifice fly for the game-winner.

But the Huskies weren’t through as they posted four more runs in the third and one run in each of the fifth, sixth and seventh innings.

In the game Dawn Worden added to the punch with a 2-RBI double; Ree Zenner and Niki VanHooreweghe also contributed RBI singles. The Huskies had 10 hits for the game.

The victory was No. 20 on the season for NIU, marking the ninth straight year (and 11th year in last 13) the program has achieved that feat. But it wasn’t without a touch of ‘unluck.’

Catcher Mary Borem was relieved from her receiving job after a knee injury via a foul tip in the second inning.

Game Two found Rachel Ortiz on the hill for NIU and, once again, the women jumped on the scoreboard first with enough runs for the ‘W.’

Zenner and Worden teamed up for consecutive RBI triples for the first two tallies before Bloy closed out the scoring with an RBI single.

The Vikings (5-15, 0-6) would finally make a dent into their half of the scoreboard with a two-spot in the fourth, but a Huskie run in the fourth and two NIU runs in the fifth put the game away.

Huskies win 6-2 amid unkind Mother Nature.

“It would go from drizzling to pouring and back and forth,” described head coach Dee Abrahamson. “The trick was not to be on the mound when it was pouring. I was worried the umpires were going to call the first game after three innings, and I didn’t know if we could start the second game, but the field held up. We were just patient and hit the ball everywhere.”

Ortiz moved to 4-1 for the year in the complete game win with support of eight Huskie hits.

The women took their sparkling new 2-0 conference record into Dayton for Saturday’s doubleheader with the Lady Raiders … picking up right where they left off in Cleveland.

In Game One, Kim Compton saw her first action of the weekend as she was handed the starting role for NIU.

Before she even stepped onto the mound, she had enough runs to pick up the victory.

The Huskies claimed three runs to open up the game. An RBI single by Worden and a 2-RBI double by VanHooreweghe would eventually do in the underdog hosts.

WSU managed to put one run on the board in its half of the first but NIU won it 7-1 by adding a Stacy Paller two-run homer in the second and one run in each of the fourth and seventh innings.

As usual, the No. 18 Huskies made the most of their nine hits behind Compton’s (6-2) complete game win.

Deja vu for Game Two as the women put up enough runs for the victory in the opening inning—a lead-off homer by Paller.

Ann Colgan closed the scoring attack with a 2-RBI single in the second inning of the 3-0 Huskie victory (behind three hits)

Tracy Meade took to the mound again and, as she did one day prior against CSU, tossed 12 K’s at the Lady Raiders (4-11, 0-6). Meade and Katie Welsh (pitched the seventh) combined on a one-hitter while Meade picked up her 10th win in her last 11 decisions to go 11-5 on the season.

“Our pitching staff really came through for us today,” Abrahamson confirmed. “I think both teams had some trouble with inconsistent calls, so it was important for us to keep our concentration on every play, and we did that well. We still have a long way to go, but we wanted a 4-0 start and we got it.”

NIU is now 23-9 overall and carries a five-game winning streak into Tuesday’s annual defensive battle at Illinois State.

More importantly, since the last rankings, the Huskies have gone 12-1 with the only loss coming to No. 10 Iowa.