NIU’s softball coach Dee Abrahamson and her team will travel to Illinois State for a 3 p.m. Wednesday doubleheader against the Redbirds with three goals in mind.

First off, the Huskies (14-16, 0-2) hope to come away with a couple of wins against ISU which is one of NIU’s biggest rivals. The Redbirds were ranked among the nation’s Top-20 earlier this season.

“We need to get another good outing out of our pitchers,” Abrahamson said in reference to NIU’s second goal. “You gain confidence when you have a pitcher who can go seven innings.”

Lastly, the Huskies will also be looking for the “timely” hits that eluded them last weekend at Akron.

“We have to keep advancing our runners when they’re on base whether it’s by bunting or whatever else it may be, but we have to keep moving the runners,” Abrahamson said. “At Akron, we outhit them, but we didn’t get the (timely) hits when we needed them.”

One player who has been perfect in hitting in this season’s conference action is junior Lori Reimer, who was named North Star Conference player of the week.

Against Akron, Reimer was a perfect six-for-six at the plate in the season’s first two conference games. Also, the shortstop has yet to commit an error in NSC play.

For the second straight week, a Huskie was named NSC player of the week. Julie Sexton also won the honor.