Softball will have a chance to work on its 2-9 road record when it travels to Michigan over the weekend.

The Huskies (17-20, 5-5 MAC) will take on the Central Michigan Chippewas (26-13, 5-3 MAC) noon and 2 p.m. Friday in Mt. Pleasant, Mich. They will then square off with the Eastern Michigan Eagles (9-27, 0-8 MAC) 1 p.m. Saturday and noon Sunday in Ypsilanti, Mich.

The Huskies enter the four-game weekend stretch having not played since Saturday. They split a Friday doubleheader against Ball State and then split a Saturday doubleheader against Miami (Ohio) at Mary M. Bell Field.

“Not having a midweek [game] this week, I think, is going to be good for them to kind of rest their bodies,” said head coach Christina Sutcliffe. “… Any time you could get a little rest on their arms this time of year, it’s a good thing.”

Central Michigan

The Chippewas enter the Friday doubleheader with an 8-3 record in April; however, they are on a two-game losing streak.

At the plate, the Chippewas are led by junior third baseman Trista Cox. Cox paces CMU in batting average (.356), runs scored (25), home runs (nine) and RBIs (28).

As a team, the Chippewas have hit 35 home runs, the second-most in the MAC.

The Chippewas present a speed factor the Huskies have not yet seen. They lead the MAC with 70 stolen bases in 82 attempts (85.4 percent), and they have five players who have stolen nine or more bases apiece.

“They’ve got an awesome balance between speed and power,” Sutcliffe said. “They’re having a phenomenal year, so I think that will be a good test for us to see where we are. … We’re going to have to be on our toes and not give them the extra out.”

In the circle, CMU boasts a trio of quality pitchers. Freshman Rachael Knapp is 8-2 with a 2.07 ERA, senior Morgan Yuncker is 8-1 with a 2.28 ERA and senior Chelsea Sundberg is 9-7 with a 3.47 ERA this season.

Eastern Michigan

On the other end of the spectrum, the Huskies will face a reeling Eagles squad that has gone 1-6 in April and 1-11 in its last 12 games.

“I think [the players] know we’re still trying to play some catch-up,” Sutcliffe said. “If we were to end the season today, I don’t know if we’d be in the MAC Tournament… . [We] still have a lot of playing to do and can’t fall too far behind anybody or we’re not going to get into the MAC Tournament.”

At the plate, nobody on the Eagles is batting higher than .281 and only one batter has more than nine RBIs. As a team, Eastern Michigan’s batting average (.215), runs scored (106) and home runs (nine) all rank last in the MAC.

In the circle, the Eagles have used four pitchers, all of whom have an ERA of 4.97 or higher. Junior Lindsay Rich (4-13) leads the Eagles with four wins, while the rest of the pitching staff has combined to go 5-14.

The Eagles will host the Western Michigan Broncos (13-26, 4-6 MAC) Friday in a doubleheader before they play the Huskies.

“We’re just really trying to position ourselves at this point for the MAC Tournament and just continue to get on a flow,” Sutcliffe said. “I don’t know if we’ve really gotten rolling this year like we did last year.”