Whenever the Huskies and the Cardinals meet, both teams know that a win won't come easily.
The last time the teams squared off, the Huskies advanced to the Mid-American Conference championship game, defeating the Cardinals by one run and ending their season.
Tonight's doubleheader in DeKalb proved to be no different. After Northern Illinois (16-18, 3-4 MAC) held off a Cardinal comeback in the first game for the 7-6 victory, Ball State Softball (26-11, 4-1 MAC) stormed back in the second game to defeat the Huskies, 7-5, and split the doubleheader.
"It was a grind and it was a battle all day," head coach Megan Ciolli-Bartlett said. "It took awhile to get going in game one ... we had a couple of shots to win that game. In game two, we dug ourselves a hole early on and we had to grind and battle our way out of it."
The first matchup saw Ball State stonewalled by Northern Illinois' Mackenzie Bryan, who struck out eight on the day and didn't allow a hit until the sixth inning. Bartlett said that the mentality for getting a big hit in the moment is what led to the switch up late in the game.
In the sixth, the Cardinals sparked a comeback, highlighted by freshman Mackenzie McCarty's two-run home run to pull Ball State within in one run of a tie. Her blast over the fence puts her in second for most home runs this season at five. However, the rally fell short, as Northern Illinois would close out in the seventh for the win.
Heading into the second game, facing another lockdown pitcher, the Cardinals knew what they were going up against and what was going to be thrown at them.
"The two pitchers at Northern are really fast complements," Bartlett said. "You have the Bryan kid that throws gas and the Frenz kid who's all drop balls and change-ups, and she's a spinner. We faced two different sides of the coin and we just had to adjust quickly. What I love about this team is not only are they gritty and tough, but they're showing some talent to do some pretty cool things."
Falling into an early 5-0 hole to the Huskies, Ball State once again stormed back off of two home runs from junior Kennedy Wynn to give the Cardinals the slim 7-5 win. In the team's last four games, Wynn has slammed it out of the park three times.
"I've been working on a few things, but I've just been focused on sticking to what I've been doing," Wynn said. "I've just been grinding and working with my other teammates. I'm just taking it very simple and trying to get on base."
Ball State hasn't been unfamiliar with big-run innings. Bartlett says the team plays knockout softball. Just last weekend the team racked up 11 runs in the bottom of the first against Akron. Two big innings today put the Cardinals back into the game.
"You know when you play knockout softball that the runs are going to come in big bursts," Bartlett said. "We usually don't have games where we score one run in a single inning ... I think just having a clear picture of how we produce offensively is different than a lot of other teams. We're just not built for an insane amount of contact. When we hit the ball, we hit it far and we hit it hard."
While the team did have a bit of time off after the cancellation of the Kent State series this past weekend, Ball State is focused on moving forward and continuing to stay successful.
"It would've been nice to see them [Kent State] this past weekend just because we knew that was going to be a competitive series," Wynn said. "We're just trying to keep our heads straight. Whatever happens, happens and we're just trying to get as many wins as we can."
As for the team's history with Northern Illinois, Bartlett and her team look at them the same way as any other team.
"Everyone is just Sallys."
Contact Jack Williams with any comments at jgwilliams@bsu.edu or on Twitter @jackgwilliams.
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