Refusing to crumble, the NIU softball team mustered the energy to compete in the Mid-American Conference against Miami on Tuesday afternoon.

After suffering from a drought at the plate in a 1-0 loss in the opening game against Miami, the Huskies used a team effort to take the second game, 4-3, in eight innings. With the Redhawks clinging to a 3-2 lead in the bottom of the eighth, with sophomore Gretchen Szymski on first and one runner out, Chrisy Johnson came in to sub.

Then, senior Suzie Rizek took the plate and drilled a double, while Johnson dodged Miami’s catcher to tie the game.

“Suzie’s been swinging the bat pretty well the last couple of weeks,” said NIU coach Donna Martin said. “She’s a senior. She stepped up and came through. She had an otherwise-tough day at the plate, but she came through when we really needed it.”

Continuing her heroics from last weekend, first baseman Paige Shemoski belted a shot to center field to score Rizek and seal NIU’s dramatic comeback.

“That’s something great about this team,” Rizek said, “because after running in every inning, it’s almost like you don’t know the score. We’re running in the same way for every inning. We came in confident, and we’ve come back in the past before, so we usually are pretty confident.”

Junior Samantha Knoll and freshman hurler Amy Krahula also helped the Huskies’ cause. Krahula struck out seven Redhawk batters while giving up five hits before Witvliet relieved her in the bottom of the seventh.

Knoll drilled two triples in the contest and scored a run in the sixth on a Szymski single to tie the game at 2-all.

In Game 1, NIU’s poor hitting offset another solid performance by senior pitcher Courtney Witvliet, who didn’t give up a run until the seventh inning.

“I think our bats were probably as cold as the weather,” Martin said. “But we got them when we needed to in the second game. The first game was very disappointing. Courtney pitched a no-hitter into the seventh inning, and then we didn’t win it for her. We didn’t make adjustments at the plate.”

Miami ace Abbey Arnold went the distance in Game 1, notching nine strikeouts. The Huskies managed just two hits in 22 at-bats.

“The only pitch the pitcher had was a curve ball, and we couldn’t hit it,” NIU coach Donna Martin said.