The black ribbon, adorned with a Husky logo, lay etched in the grass next to the infield.
Mixing black, red and white, the symbol offered a quiet reminder of the school shooting that left an unmistakable impact on the Northern Illinois softball team.
On the field Thursday, Oregon earned two wins over the Huskies that stretched the Ducks’ winning streak to five games and improved Oregon’s record to 19-11.
Oregon’s bats connected with home runs by Neena Bryant and Joanna Gail in the Ducks’ 5-3 finale.
Carlyn Re kept up her resurgence at the plate with the go-ahead RBI in the 4-2 Oregon win in the opener.
“To get two wins is huge for us,” coach Kathy Arendsen said.
Northern Illinois was brought into the national spotlight by a school shooting in mid-February. The attack by graduate student Steven Kazmierczak CQ left five students dead and wounded 16 others.
Eugene was the first stop for Northern Illinois, who now travels to Portland for games with Portland State and Washington today. The Huskies visit Corvallis Saturday for two games with Oregon State.
The ribbon on the field was one sign of support toward the team.
“It’s very nice and the girls very much appreciate it,” said Northern Illinois coach Lindsay Chouinard, CQ who is in her first year with the program. “Obviously it’s something that we still think about and still affects us.
“It’s great to see the softball community rally around us and the girls have really stepped up and done a great job.”
Both games Thursday were slowed by an hour-long rain delay on a cold, wet afternoon at Howe Field.
“Our pitchers persevered,” Arendsen said. “It’s hard when you start, stop, start, stop.”
In the opener, Cook (7-7) took the mound and pitched a complete game, allowing five hits and two runs. She struck out six.
Rain forced umpires to pause the game going into the fourth inning, and following the delay, Cook efficiently kept Northern Illinois to three batters in three of the next four innings.
“She was back to herself,” Arendsen said. “She was struggling a little bit with control and then location but she really bounced back after that rain delay.”
Oregon scored a run apiece in the first and second innings before Northern Illinois tied the game at two in the third.
Outfielder Kayleen Hudson singled up the middle with two outs in the bottom of the fourth inning. Re powered a pitch into left center that hit the wall. Northern Illinois fumbled the relay and allowed Hudson to score the go-ahead run from first base.
“As the (season) keeps going on, I’m feeling more and more comfortable,” Re said. “I felt good seeing the ball again. I’m not guessing anymore, which is a lot better for me at the plate.”
Oregon tacked on another run the next inning when Lovena Chaput’s bunt single scored Sari-Jane Jenkins from third.
In the second game, Bryant barely cleared the left field wall with a first-inning home run that gave the Ducks a 3-0 lead. After Northern Illinois scored in the third, Gail added two more runs in a near-identical home run to the left-field corner.
Pitcher Melissa Rice (8-4) pitched a complete game and allowed five hits. She had five strikeouts.
The Ducks were looking to produce a better effort following a 4-0 loss to Portland State in the home opener last week.
“We definitely needed to come out ready to go,” Re said. “I feel like we did. We were up. Energy was up.”
Northern Illinois falls to 5-5 overall. The Huskies continue on their road trip and ongoing recovery from a traumatic school shooting.
“We’re grateful we don’t know what that’s like,” Arendsen said. “We keep them in our thoughts and our prayers. We offer them our support and are grateful each of them is OK.”
Northern Illinois declined Oregon’s offer to hold a moment of silence before the game. The quiet support by way of the ribbon on the field is a welcome way of acknowledging what happened, while not directly bringing attention to the team, Chouinard said.
“For some of our girls, it’s still very fresh,” she said. “So for us to talk about it before the game or those kinds of things is a little more difficult.”
Northern Illinois has continued to play and in a way their coach says are serving as ambassadors for the school as they continue to play the game they enjoy.
“(Players are) going out and doing the things that they love to do and fulfilling their dreams the same way that those five victims would have wanted to,” Chouinard said.
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