March 31, 2009

DEKALB, Ill. - Northern Illinois University swept MAC West softball honors this week as senior Bailey Ouellette (Beaverton, Ore./Beaverton) earned MAC West Player of the Week and freshman Morgan Bittner (Long Beach, Calif./Long Beach Poly) garnered MAC West Pitcher of the Week

A two-out walk-off single to give the Huskies a come-from-behind 4-3 victory over Akron in their second game of a doubleheader with the Zips highlighted an outstanding week by Ouellette. That was after belting a two-run homer to help lift NIU to a 3-2 win in the first game against the Zips.

She went 2-for-3 with two RBI and a run scored in game one against Akron and 2-for-3 with an RBI in the second game against Akron. She also went 1-for-3 with an RBI in NIU's 5-3 victory over Valparaiso to begin the week. She went 6-for-15 on the week, including a double and homerun, batting .400 and slugging .667 and drove in four runs.

Bittner posted a perfect 3-0 record, completing all three of her starts this week. She had a 1.71 ERA for the week, limiting her opponents to a .218 batting average, well below her .275 opponent's batting average on the season. She allowed nine runs, four earned, on 17 hits, five walks and struck out eight batters in 21 innings pitched.

Her best performance of the week came in the Huskies' MAC opener against Akron. She didn't allow a single earned run in limiting the Zips to five hits in NIU's 3-2 victory. In Northern Illinois' 7-4 victory over Ohio, the native from Long Beach, Calif. scattered eight Bobcat hits, allowing four runs, three earned, on the way to her fifth victory of the season.

The Huskies return to the diamond Wednesday when NIU travels to South Bend, Ind. to take on the Fighting Irish of Notre Dame. First pitch is slated for 4 p.m.

-NIU-