March 31, 2008

NIU Overall Statistics

DeKALB, Ill. - The Northern Illinois softball team will play their first home game on Tuesday, April 1 at 6 p.m. CT against No. 16 Northwestern (17-9, 4-0) at Mary M. Bell Field. The game will be NIU first-year head coach Lindsay Chouinard's home debut.

Home Debut

The Huskies (5-15, 0-2) are 8-5 in home openers over the last 13 years and Chouinard will look to continue the trend in her home debut at Mary M. Bell Field versus a tough opponent in Northwestern.

"Our first home game will be a great opportunity for this team to show how hard they have worked and how far they have come," said Chouinard on NIU's home debut, which can be followed through GameTracker on www.niuhuskies.com. "Kate Drohan has done an amazing job of turning Northwestern into a softball powerhouse. We played them this fall and understand what their program is about. We are very capable of picking up a big win tomorrow."

Leaders

On offense, the Huskies are led by senior third baseman Michelle Nendza (Palos Park, Ill./Lemont Mt. Assisi). Nendza leads NIU in batting average (.370), hits (20), runs (9), home runs (6) and runs batted in (14). Junior outfielder Jenna Roberts (Verona, Wis./West) has a team-high seven stolen bases in 11 attempts and a team second-best 18 hits and seven runs.

On the mound, NIU is led by sophomore Kate Greenough (Portland, Ore./David Douglas), who has a team-best 3.69 earned run average and a 3-7 record. Greenough has a team-high 53.2 innings pitched, four complete games and 39 strike outs. Senior Taryn Hagemann (Rochelle, Ill./Rochelle) has a team-low .233 opponent batting average and ranks second with 34 strike outs in 37.1 frames.

NIU's Record vs. Northwestern

Northwestern leads the all-time series, 31-22. The last meeting between the two went to the Wildcats, 6-1, on April 3, 2007 in Evanston, Ill, which was also the last time NIU has competed against a Big Ten opponent. Overall, the Huskies are 79-107 versus Big Ten foes.

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