NIU goes for its third straight North Star Conference Softball Championship trophy at this weekend’s league tournament hosted by Valparaiso University.

Winners in their first two NSC seasons, the Huskies are seeded No. 1 and face new conference member and No. 8-seed Wright State in Thursday’s 6:30 p.m. opening game at Valparaiso Fairgrounds Park. Double-elimination play continues Friday at 9 a.m. and 3:30 p.m., respectively. Sunday serves as the raindate.

NIU and Wright state are joined by Akron, DePaul, Wisconsin-Green Bay, Valparaiso, Cleveland State, and Illinois- Chicago.

“The pressure is clearly on our players this trip to the conference tournament,” NIU head coach Dee Abrahamson said. “We’re the team others are going to be aiming for, so I look to see us facing every team’s top pitchers.

“One of our top goals is to win the North Star title in 1990: we’ll have to come to play.”

NIU stands at a 17-18-2 overall season record.

Five NIU players, the most of any conference team, are ranked in the North Star’s Top 20 hitting statistics. Two-time all-conference pick Lisa Gilfoy leads NIU with a .383 batting average and 22 RBI, good for sixth-place in league hitting statistics.

Julie Sexton, an All-NSC selection in 1988, is right behind Gilfoy’s totals with a .382 batting average and 20 RBI, the No. 8 NSC hitter.

The other Huskie hitters are Jeanne Richeal, Heidi Hutchison, and Ree Zenner.