Friday's Scoreboard
Northern Illinois 4, FGCU 1
UCONN 7, Northern Illinois 1
Bowling Green 2, Winthrop 0
Winthrop 10, Bowling Green 1
Stories Courtesy of MAC Sports Information
Northern Illinois 4, FGCU 1
UCONN 7, Northern Illinois 1
Box Score /
Box Score
FORT MYERS, Fla. – The Northern Illinois University softball team split a pair of games on its first day of play in the FGCU Invitational hosted by Florida Gulf Coast at the FGCU Softball Complex on Friday.
NIU (1-1) dropped a 7-1 decision in the season opener with UCONN, before taking down homestanding FGCU, 4-1, in the second game.
"We are trying to find our rhythm collectively as a unit, both offensively and defensively," said NIU head coach Christina Sutcliffe. "We are concentrating on continuing to pound the process. All three parts of the game played well and held up under pressure in game two."
A four-run fifth inning proved to be the difference in the contest in the victory over the Eagles. FGCU jumped on top of the Huskies, 1-0, in the bottom of the fourth on a sacrifice fly. NIU responded in the top of the fifth with some solid hitting and taking advantage of a few Eagle errors.
After Bianca Barone reached on an error by the second baseman to start the inning, Amberly Rodriquez singled to third and advanced to second on a throwing error by the third baseman and pushing Izzy Smith, who came in to pinch run for Barone to third.
Mackenzie Mahy drove in the first run of the inning on a fielder's choice and Kelly Walinksi the second, when she also reached on a fielder's choice. Katie Keller gave the Huskies a three-run lead when she singled to left with two on and two outs. However, she was thrown out at second trying to stretch the single into a double to end the inning.
Emily Dato, who went four strong innings, allowing one on four hits, was lifted after facing the leadoff hitter in the bottom of the fifth. Freshman Claire Norred picked up the save, pitching the final three frames. She kept FGCU off the scoreboard, allowing three hits, while striking out two.
UCONN's offense was too much for the NIU Huskies to overcome in the first game of the day as UCONN scored seven runs on 11 hits. UCONN took a 2-0 lead with a run in the first and another in the third. The big blow came in the fifth when UCONN put up a three spot.
An RBI double by Walinski in the bottom of the fifth provided the lone bright spot for NIU in the contest.
The Huskies return to the diamond for a pair of games. NIU will face Florida International at 10 a.m. and FGCU at 12:15 p.m. Both times Central.
Bowling Green 2, Winthrop 0
Winthrop 10, Bowling Green 1
Box Score /
Box Score
ROCK HILL. S.C. – Payton Gottshall picked up right where she left off last weekend. The Bowling Green State University redshirt freshman fired a two-hit shutout as the softball Falcons topped Winthrop University, 2-0, in eight innings Friday afternoon (Feb. 19). The game was the opening contest in the Winthrop Kickoff Tournament at Terry Field.
In the second game of the day, the Eagles jumped on top early, scoring five times in the first two innings en route to a 10-1 victory.
Gottshall, who was named the Wilson/NFCA National Pitcher of the Week on Tuesday for her performance at Cleveland State last weekend, allowed only a one-out single in the fourth inning and a one-out double in the seventh. On both occasions, she promptly retired the next two batters to end the inning.
Greta L'Esperance was a perfect 4-for-4 in Friday's opening game, and scored what proved to be the winning run. Her fourth hit of the game was a single to lead off the eighth inning, and she immediately came around to score on a double by Madi McCoy.
McCoy then scored on a pinch-hit single by Reagan Williamson – the first hit and first run batted in of Williamson's young career – and the Falcons had one more run than Gottshall would need.
Gottshall allowed a one-out walk in the bottom of the eighth, but struck out the other three batters she faced in the inning to close out the win.
Gottshall now has three complete-game shutouts in as many starts this season. She has topped her shutout total (two) for all of last year.
