Softball is taking its talents to Florida for its second five-game tournament this month.

The Huskies (2-3) will partake in the Disney Diamond 9 Citrus Classic this weekend. The tournament, which will take place at the ESPN Wide World of Sports Complex in Kissimmee, Fla., will start Friday and end Sunday.

NIU will open its schedule with back-to-back games at 12:15 p.m. Friday vs. the Fairfield Stags (0-0) and 2:30 p.m. Friday vs. the Indiana-Purdue Fort Wayne Mastodons (7-2).

The Huskies will take on the Albany Great Danes (0-0) at 12:15 p.m. Saturday and have a short break before they go up against the North Carolina State Wolfpack (1-5) at 4:45 p.m. Saturday.

They close out the five-game weekend trip with a 9 a.m. Sunday game against the Lehigh Mountain Hawks (0-0).

Three of the five teams the Huskies will play haven’t played a single game this season, which head coach Christina Sutcliffe said could be an advantage or disadvantage for her squad.

“For one, they’ve probably been working really hard, and they’re really anxious to get out on the field,” Sutcliffe said. “So, they kind of have that first-game adrenaline flowing. But in another sense, I think being able to play two weeks ago and being able to come back for a week and a half and really practice what we lacked, it’s a huge advantage. So, I think it could go either way, really.”

Sutcliffe said all five teams NIU will play are postseason capable, but if she had to choose a team or two that could provide a measuring stick for the Huskies, she said she’d choose IPFW and NC State, teams that made the NCAA tournament last season.

The Huskies are coming off a 2-3 performance at the FAU Kick-Off Classic from Feb. 7 to Feb. 9 in Boca Raton, Fla. They defeated Florida Atlantic and St. John’s, and they lost to No. 18 Louisville, Ohio State and Tulsa, but they had some sort of struggle in every game.

“I think it was just jitters,” said junior pitcher Jessica Sturm. “I think from here on out we’ll be fine.

“Coming from inside to playing on dirt is really different, so we did a lot better than I think anyone expected. From here on out, I think we’ll just keep getting better.”

Defensively, they allowed 19 runs (3.8 per game) and committed 13 errors (2.6 per game).

Offensively, they managed only 15 runs (three per game) on 22 hits (0.182 batting average).

“A lot of our fielding mistakes were throwing errors, so we’ve really tried to zone in on accuracy and some foot mechanics to work on our throws and try to eliminate a little of that,” Sutcliffe said. “Hitting, we’ve really just tried to concentrate on our timing and being able to recognize the pitch and have a little better pitch selection.”

Sutcliffe said the No. 1 thing she took away from the first weekend of games that she expects to see more of this weekend is the team’s confidence.

“I think they definitely realized that they can compete with anybody,” Sutcliffe said.