AKRON, Ohio- No. 5 seed Western Michigan softball fell to No. 4 seed Northern Illinois at Firestone Stadium in the opening round if the Mid-American Conference Tournament Wednesday morning by a score of 3-1.

WMU dropped the opening round game last year and went then rattled off four wins to face Ball State in the championship round. The Broncos will look to repeat that performance starting tomorrow at 10:30 a.m. where they will face No. 8 seed Central Michigan who lost to No. 1 seed Kent State, 1-0. 

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Senior Melissa Palmer recorded her 217th career hit in the game, a line drive to right field. Palmer is now tied with Julie Liljeberg (1988-91) for the program record.  

Senior pitcher Allyson Kus (15-15) picked up the loss, she struck out five in six innings of work.

Sophomore Gabby Schefka went 2-for-3 in the game, sophomore Aspen Williams and junior Ivy Schaaf also picked up two hits apiece against the Huskies.  

NIU scored the first runs of the game with a two-run home run in the bottom of the third inning and tacked on one more in the fourth.

The Broncos started a rally in the sixth with Palmer's line drive to right field. Palmer stole second and Schaaf drove her home with a base hit to right but the Broncos were unable to put any more runs on the board.

Western Michigan will return to Firestone Stadium tomorrow at 10:30 a.m. A live stream will be available for all games this week. For brackets and other scores click on the Tournament Central link.