Sophomore softball outfielder Jessica Rio considers how far she has come since being on the Blue Jays at 10 years old. Rio is second on the team in batting average.

Sophomore outfielder Jessica Rio slides into home plate against Eastern Michigan April 28. The Huskies beat the Eagles in three games. 

Junior pitcher Tara Thacker pitching during a March 31 game against the Bowling Green Falcons. The Huskies won their series against Western Michigan University. 

DeKalb — Softball won its midweek matchup at home against the Ball State University Cardinals behind a strong performance from junior pitcher Tara Thacker.

The Huskies (19-15, 7-5 Mid-American Conference) defeated the Cardinals (25-19, 9-3 MAC), 6-3, Wednesday at Mary M. Bell Field in DeKalb.

Thacker (5-7) pitched all seven innings, giving up three earned runs on six hits, with five strikeouts and seven walks.

“[Thacker] did a really good job in the first and second inning of getting us off the field [and] making a pitch when they needed to,” said Head Coach Christina Sutcliffe. “[Thacker] was able to get them to popup quite a bit, which was really nice to see.”

Senior first baseman Kayti Grable and Bekah Harnish, junior catcher and infielder, both went 2-for-3. Grable drove in three runs and Harnish had a run and an RBI.

Sophomore outfielder Jessica Rio went 1-for-2 with two runs scored and a walk. Sutcliffe said she was a little nervous when the Cardinals scored in the first inning, but the Huskies bounced back and had three great innings of scoring.

With two outs in the bottom of the second inning, the Huskies scored three runs to take a 4-2 lead. Sophomore outfielder Jenny Van Geertry walked and advanced to second base on a single by Rio.

Harnish singled to right field to score Van Geertry and advanced to second base on an errant throw.

Grable doubled to center field to score Rio and Harnish.

In the bottom of the third inning, sophomore outfielder Katie Lamich singled to left field and scored on a home run by sophomore infielder Sam Schmidt to give NIU a 6-2 lead, which was all the offense it needed for the game.

Senior outfielder Rachel Houck sent Thacker’s pitch over the left field fence to tack on one more run for the Cardinals in the top of the seventh inning, but a line out and two strikeouts later ended the game and gave NIU the win.

The Huskies will be back in action this weekend in a four-game series against Western Michigan University beginning with a game 2 p.m. Friday in Kalamazoo, Michigan.