Not sure NIU is better than Western for Softball, but location is the closer to Chicago Area and for some majors like accounting it has a great reputation. The Coach at Western is great but it is a hard sell given the location, facilities and academics. NIU continues to lag behind in softball. EIU, SIU, ISU and Bradley are better softball programs. NIU should have an advantage recruiting given it has access to the indoor football practice field for winter and their field is not bad. EIU, SIU, Bradley and ISU do not have great indoor facilities from what I remember. SIU is probably the best stadium of those. The head coach left EIU last year and they lost some players to the portal. SIU lost players to portal too but historically has been good at softball. UIC should be one of the easiest sells for a coach. It has nice indoor facilities, a nice home field, great view of downtown skyline and is a great school. Medical related majors/business schools are strong. Softball they have struggled but I could see them rebuilding. One of the downsides is the adjacent neighborhoods, but the campus is a bit of an Oasis. If your daughter wants city living it is not a bad place. DePaul is rebuilding, great 2026 class, does not have great indoor facilities but the stadium is nice(turf) and academically is very good especially for accounting/business/medical related majors. Get to their camps and campuses. They all have pluses and minuses.