With six of their next eight games at home, the Northern Illinois University Huskies softball team (7-18, 2-4 MAC) is set to host the Bobcats of Ohio University (20-8, 3-0 MAC) at Mary M. Bell Field, March 28-29. First pitch of a doubleheader is set for 2 p.m. on March 28.

Friday (March 28) will be Unity Day at the park while Saturday (March 29) is set to be Kid’s Day and First Responder’s Day. Fans are invited to stay after Saturday’s game for a post-game autograph session with the 2025 Huskies Softball team.

Admission is free to games with live stats and video available at NIUHuskies.com.

Ohio took all three games last season and has won four of the last five meetings between the squads.

The Bobcats swept Buffalo in their opening weekend of play, outscoring Buffalo 24-2. Ohio has five batters above .311, led by Lauren Yuhas at .353. Brenna Farmer leads the team with 32 hits while Yuhas has recorded 30 runs for the team. As a team, the Bobcats are batting at .304 which is third in the MAC. Ohio leads the MAC in ERA at 2.95 with eight shutouts this season with Anna Wise leading in the circle at 1.61.

Brianna Pechman (West Chicago, Ill./West Chicago Community) and Madison Mathews (Yuma, Ariz./Cibola) are two of the top three in the conference for batting average with .480 and .400 respectively. Jenna Turner (Marengo, Ill./Marengo) rounds out the Huskies as she sits in seventh with an average of .386 as the Huskies softball program bats a combined .265.

Turner leads the team with 16 runs and 32 hits while Mathews leads the team with three home runs. Mathews is on a 10-game hit streak, having recorded a hit in every game since March 9 against Wisconsin.

In the circle for the Huskies, Madison Carlson (South Beloit, Ill./South Beloit) has a 2.80 ERA which is a top-4 average in the conference. Danielle Stewart (Frankfort, Ill./Lincoln-Way East) is fifth in the conference for strikeouts with 43 this season as she leads NIU.

NIU was most recently in action on March 26 as they traveled to in-state foe Northwestern. The Huskies saw Turner and Mathews as they fell 11-2 in five innings to the Wildcats.

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