The Huskies (19-31, 13-21) will face Ball State in a doubleheader on Wednesday. First pitch for game one is set for 1 p.m. CT with game two to follow. Following the double dip with the Cardinals, NIU welcomes MAC leader Miami to DeKalb for a four-game set beginning Friday.
Fans can watch all the action of the final 10 games this season on NIUTube or follow via live stats on NIUHuskies.com. Be sure to check NIUHuskies.com or @NIUSoftball on Twitter for any schedule changes.
"Our schedule's set up that we're playing the top two teams at the end here," NIU head coach Christina Sutcliffe said. "We're kind of talking about putting money in our bank for next year. It's how well we play towards the end here that puts confidence and trust in our team for next year.
"We only lose two players, so this is a big chunk of who's going to return and how can we compete with, not necessarily, there being a light at the end of the tunnel to be playing for, but playing for pride, playing for your teammates, and playing for your two seniors. That's still enough to play for. That's what I love about this team. Early on, it would've been really easy for them to give up and stop competing. They're competing here until the end. They're all in, they're locked in on each other and they're locked in on finishing this out."
The 2021 campaign has been anything but business as usual for the NIU softball program. From scheduling challenges, event cancellations, COVID conditions, and pauses, Sutcliffe's young team persevered through some tough circumstances and still played the second-most games by a MAC school this season. NIU has not missed a conference series, or game within a series, all year.
"I think we made a real effort to work on our own mental and emotional state as far as what we could control," Sutcliffe said. "We knew we weren't going to be able to control COVID. We knew we weren't going to be able to control whether we got to play or not. We were going to be able to control our own actions, and our own discipline within it and how we were going to react.
"We obviously had to prep a little differently, just from the standpoint of COVID guidelines, but also being prepared for what if halt the team goes quarantine and you are stuck with no outfielders. I just think they bought into the fact that we can play anywhere at any time and we weren't going to let any type of obstacle distract us from what we were trying to do."
The Huskies, which consist of mostly underclassmen, six freshmen and six sophomores, have made strides throughout the season.
"To watch them grow throughout the year, that's been a big deal for them and we're seeing it payoff the last couple of games," she said. "We're not necessarily always winning, but they're more disciplined. They're more structured. They're going for lead outs. They're being more aggressive on the bases. They're challenging themselves in the outfield. We're not playing as cautious as we did early on. I think it's the courage, the bravery, the focus on ourselves as opposed to what the opponent's doing and not beating ourselves."
One of the feel-good stories for NIU this season has been the return of Mackenzie Bryan to the pitcher's circle. After missing all of 2020, albeit 22 games, and the first 18 games this season, Bryan toed the rubber for the first time in a year and half in the home opener this year. Since then, she's racked up six wins and leads the team with a 2.88 earned run average.
"Kenzie's had a rough go the last two years and she'll tell you the same thing," Sutcliffe said. "In a day and age where it's really easy to quit and hang up your cleats when things get hard, Kenzie's done the exact opposite.
"She came her to play, she came her to change a culture. She came here to grind it out and she did just that. Early on she made it very clear not to give up on her and she was going to leave it all on the field. She's driven to do that. No doubt about it. It's not easy for her. Most kids probably would've hung them up and not gone through the pain she's gone through the season."
One Huskie that has been able to build on her stellar freshman season two years ago is Katie Keller. The Geneva, Ill. native leads the team in every offensive category and is three doubles away from breaking the school's record for doubles in a season she set in 2019. Her seven home runs this season is a career best and is as many homers she had heading into the season combined.
"What Keller has going for her is she's not afraid to take a walk," Sutcliffe said. "She draws out a long at bat, foul off the pitches she needs to and then be disciplined enough to take a pitch that's too far out of the zone. When you're doing that, but still having the power numbers that she's continuing to put up, it just shows you what kind of an all-around hitter she is.
"She's not up at the plate trying to hit a home run. She's up at the plate trying to do what she needs to do for her team to win that game. She's one of late that's become super aggressive on the bases and is developing into that player that's playing the game within a game that it takes for an elite player to do."
-NIU-
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Huskies Face Tough Test to Close 2021 - Northern Illinois University Athletics
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