CHICAGO –

Erin Dyer started Northwestern’s day with a three-run blast that made it look like the team was on its way to its second defeat of a No. 1 team this year.

With a 4-2 lead and ace Lauren Delaney in the pitcher’s circle heading to the bottom of the seventh, the Wildcats were posed to top the top-ranked Crimson Tide.

But then Dr. Jekyll turned into Mrs. Hyde. And unfortunately, Mrs. Hyde does not play good defense.

Alabama took advantage of two key errors to force extra innings and then won the game in the eighth.

NU’s alter ego was not done, making a return in the second game against No. 23 DePaul.

With the sun setting and twilight approaching, the normally mild-mannered and consistent Cats defense turned into a horrible monster, allowing balls to ricochet into the outfield and stick to the turf. The Blue Demons erased an early 2-0 deficit to take the darkness-shortened game.

Somebody get the silver.

“I think it’s a matter of staying aggressive in those moments,” coach Kate Drohan said. “We talk about it a lot as a group and I think it’s something we’ve got to keep working on.”

NU committed four crucial errors in losing both games of the DePaul Invitational on Tuesday. But if the day proved anything, it was the only team that can beat the Cats right now is itself.

NU has six errors in two Big Ten losses and now seven in its last three games – not surprisingly, it fell in all three.

The Cats are 19-4 since a five-game losing streak in March and have dominated opponents with seven run-rule victories – including a run-rule sweep of two game sets with Indiana and Purdue two weekends ago.

But with the Big Ten tournament looming and a pair of games against Michigan State this weekend