The Huskies are ready for dirt.

After a weekend of play on an astroturf field at the Creighton Bud Light/Lady Jay Invitational, the NIU softball team is ready to play on its own field against Iowa today for a 3 p.m. doubleheader at McCormick Park.

Even though NIU coach Dee Abrahamson didn’t seem to think her squad’s play was affected by the turf, she wouldn’t want it all the time either.

“The turf was interesting,” Abrahamson said. “There were a lot of ground-rule doubles because of the bounces, but it didn’t really affect us. The players had to choose different shoes. Some of the players had rubber spikes, but most wore tennis shoes.”

The No. 12-ranked Huskies, holding an 18-3 record, had one day to prepare for the 18th-ranked Hawkeyes. One thing Abrahamson would like to see her squad improve on is coming up with the hits to bring runners home.

During NIU’s 3-2 loss to Bradley on Saturday at the tourney, the Huskies stranded nine runners on base. Later that day against the Creighton Lady Blue Jays, NIU left five runners on base.

“We pounded the ball, got people on base, but couldn’t get the hits to score the runners,” Abrahamson said.

Abrahamson said another thing that hurt the squad was not being able to take control in the early part of the game.

“I thought in the Bradley game we’d take control of the game,” Abrahamson said. “We needed to dominate earlier and didn’t.”

Before coming to DeKalb, Iowa played 10 games in seven days. Losing just one of those, the Big Ten squad holds a 21-8 slate.

“We have to get ready for another ranked team,” Abrahamson said. “We’ve got to get right back to work.”

Before their 10-game run, the Hawkeye’s Andrea Meyers led the way for Iowa with a .326 average and pitcher Terri McFarland held the school single-game record of 17 strikeouts.

NIU’s Lisa Gilfoy enters today’s matchup after a good weekend with the sticks. The sophomore hit two homeruns in the championship game against the Lady Jays.

Kathy Bulow is another bright spot for the Huskies. Because of a knee injury, the senior has not been able to play the field this season. She did get to see action, however, during the championship game as a designated player and hit a triple in the second inning.

Pitcher Beth Schrader comes in with a slightly tarnished 9-1 mark. She received her first loss of the year against Bradley, while freshman Kristin Vandenhouten holds a perfect 3-0 record.