Central Michigan University Athletics
Central Michigan University
8-15, 0
NIU
7-14, 0
First MAC Win for Softball Comes Over NIU
3/15/2025 5:58:00 PM | Softball
Hot bats give CMU the edge over Northern Illinois to grab the first conference victory of the 2025 season.
Next up, the Chippewas will host Akron for a MAC series on Friday and Saturday, March 21 & 22 at Margo Jonker Stadium. Game on Friday is slated to start at 3 p.m. and the double header on Saturday will start at 1 p.m.
The offense continued to shine for Central Michigan in the victory on Saturday afternoon as the team charted the eight double-digit hit game in the 2025 season – tying the season high with their 15 hits for the second time.
Senior Allyssa Hollo and freshman London Williams each recorded three hits in the game, Williams with a home run, Hollo with a two RBI double and three total on the afternoon.
Rachel Cairo, Carly Sleeman and Grace Koenig also had multi-hit games with two apiece.
CMU got on the board early in the first inning with three runs on four hits, sending the starting pitcher Brooklyn Compau to the circle with a comfortable lead. The Chippewas capitalized on two errors from the Huskie defense.
NIU answered in the bottom half of the inning with a run that came at the courtesy of a runner caught stealing by Carly Sleeman.
CMU batted through their lineup completely in the first two innings.
The bats stayed hot for CMU in the second inning where they charted another four runs. The runs came at the hands of another Huskie error, hits from Sleeman, Cairo, Hollo, and Tolmie.
Compau held the Huskies scoreless in the second frame and CMU added another run in the third inning from a solo home run from Williams.
NIU answered in the bottom of the inning with a run, and three more in the bottom of the fifth inning.
Cierra Laska entered in relief in the bottom of the fifth to face the final two outs. Compau lasted 4.1 innings for Central Michigan striking out five.
Laska threw for the Chippewas until the final two outs which were faced by Madelyn Wallace.
Three more runs came for CMU in the top of the seventh inning with a pinch hit double from Maddison Diekman who was then scored with a two-run shot from Carly Sleeman – her eighth of the 2025 season.
The final run for CMU came from Cairo's RBI double to score Williams who reached via walk.
NIU added two runs in the bottom of the seventh, but Wallace and the defense were able to hold the comeback off and secure the first victory of MAC play for Central Michigan.
For the latest news and updates on CMU Softball, follow the team on X (@cmusoftball) and Instagram (@cmichsoftball).
Team Stats
Pitching:
W: Compau , Brooklyn (2-5)
L: T. Mackin (0-1)
Batting:
2B: Cairo, Rachel 1 ; Hollo, Allyssa 1 ; Diekman, Maddison 1
HR: Sleeman, Carly 1 ; Williams, London 1
RBI: Sleeman, Carly 2 ; Williams, London 1 ; Cairo, Rachel 2 ; Hollo, Allyssa 3 ; Koenig, Grace 1 ; Tolmie, Keira 2
SF: Briggs, Tori 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Sleeman, Carly 3 ; Williams, London 4 ; Cairo, Rachel 2 ; Hollo, Allyssa 1 ; Diekman, Maddison 1
Batting:
2B: L. Nance 1
HR: D. Stewart 1
RBI: L. Nance 1 ; M. Mathews 2 ; D. Stewart 2 ; K. Ramage 1
SH: L. Nance 1
Base Running:
RUNS: J. Turner 2 ; L. Nance 1 ; M. Mathews 1 ; D. Stewart 1 ; B. Pechman 2
SB: J. Turner 1
CS: J. Turner 1
HBP: D. Stewart 1
