Late Rally Stalls In Loss at Northwestern

Sunday, April 19

7 PM ET / 6 PM CT

Michigan State University

Northwestern

4/18/2026 4:55:00 PM | Softball

East Lansing, Mich. – Michigan State staged a late rally that fell just short in n 8-7 loss at Northwestern. MSU stranded the tying run at third base in the top of the seventh inning and stranded eight overall on the day.

MSU's bats were hot – the Spartans rattled off 12 base hits, led by 3-for-4 efforts by both Payton Conroy and Hannah Hawley. Two of Conroy's hits were doubles, her ninth and 10^th of the season. Hawley had three base hits and a pair of RBI. Sydney Doloszycki delivered a two- RBI double, going 1-for-1 with three walks. Sophia Grillo (two doubles) and Kendall Smiley (2-for-3) also had multiple-hit efforts.

Autumn Behlke got the start and threw three innings, scattering five hits and striking out two. Jacey Schuler also threw three innings, surrendering two runs (none earned) and striking out a pair as the unfortunate game loser.

Emma Raye (2-4, four RBI) and Bridget Donahey led the Wildcats with two base hits each. Reliever Marina Mason earned the win in the circle with 1.2 innings, surrendering two doubles but working out of a seventh-inning jam with the tying run at third base.

MSU (15-27, 2-14 B1G) out-hit their hosts 12-8 on the day but were plagued by six errors – just three of the runs scored by Northwestern were earned. Just one hit by the home team went for extra bases, while MSU smacked five doubles among its 12 base knocks.

The teams will face off on Sunday evening (7 pm ET/6 pm CT) in the series finale from Rosemont.

NOTEWORTHY

Payton Conroy went 3-for-4 with a pair of doubles and delivered an RBI single in the fourth. Her 10 doubles is her career best.
Hannah Hawley had a pair of RBI on three base hits. Her three hits tied her career best that she established last March, also against the Wildcats.
Sydney Doloszycki had an RBI double and walked three times, her career high.
Autumn Behlke got the start and went three full innings, scattering five base hits, striking out two, and allowing three earned runs. Jacey Schuler threw three innings in relief and allowed just two runs, both unearned
Sophia Grillo contributed two doubles, pushing her season to a career-best six.
Kirsten Caravaca threw out a runner in the top of the second, her eighth runner caught stealing this season.

SCORING SUMMARIES

The home team plated three runs in the first on a three-run homer by Emma Raye; they added an additional three thanks to a trio of Spartan errors in the second inning. MSU finally got on the board in the third, as Payton Conroy led off with a double and then went to third and scored on a pair of wild pitches. Hannah Hawley's second hit of the day brought home Zoie Bernard after she and Doloszycki each walked; a ground ball to third brought Doloszycki across the plate to cut the Northwestern lead in half.
The Spartans led off the fourth with three straight singles by Kendall Smiley, Kenyatta, and Conroy, with Conroy picking up an RBI as Smiley came around to score. After the Wildcats retired the next two batters, Doloszycki walked to move Conroy to second, and a base hit by Hawley brought home both Conroy and Natalia Kenyatta to bring the Spartans within a run, 6-5. Jacey Schuler retired the side in order in the bottom of the fourth, but in the home half of the fifth, Northwestern pushed across a run to make it 7-5.
The resilient Spartans rallied for a pair of runs in the top of the sixth, as Conroy led off with a double – her second of the day – and Kirsten Caravaca drew a one-out walk. Doloszycki doubled down the line to bring home both runners to make it 7-7.
Northwestern took advantage of a pair of MSU errors to take an 8-7 lead. After a leadoff single by Kaylie Avvisato, she went to second on an error and then came around to score on a sac bunt (and another error) to allow the home team to take a lead.
Sophia Grillo smacked her second double to lead off the seventh, and pinch runner Kayla Franklin went to third on a sac bunt by Smiley. Pitcher Marina Mason got the final two outs on a ground ball and a strikeout to strand the tying run at third base.