This weekend the NIU softball team will continue its stretch of home games, playing four more in DeKalb.

Two games each will be played against Eastern Michigan and Western Michigan.

The Huskies (10-14) will play a doubleheader against Eastern Michigan today before facing off Western Michigan for single games on Saturday and Sunday.

This weekend marks the beginning of conference play for NIU, and head coach Lindsay Chouinard is excited to kick off the Huskies’ slate of MAC opponents.

“We have been looking forward to MAC play for a while,” Chouinard said. “These games are going to be very important for us. But it will be very good competition for us and hopefully we can be successful and get off to a good start.”

The Huskies are coming off a doubleheader loss to Valparaiso on Wednesday in which they lost the first game, 17-6, and the second by a score of 8-5.

In those games, freshman Stephanie Tofft recorded a hit in each game, extending her hitting streak to 14 games. She also added a home run in the first matchup.

If there was one major problem for the Huskies in their losses to the Crusaders, it was their defense.

NIU struggled to consistently come up with balls, committing ten total errors on Wednesday.

While Chouinard is aware that the Huskies’ defense was a major problem in the losses, she said she also believes that a lack of timely hitting is contributing to NIU’s woes.

“We need to make the plays on defense and not give them free runs,” Chouinard said. “Offensively we need to be much more effective and timely. We need to be able to drive in runs and execute and not leave runners left on base.”

While improving in those aspects specifically is key to the Huskies’ success, Chouinard is more concerned with her team’s general improvement.

“I want the girls to improve in every facet of the game,” Chouinard said. “We can play much better, and I want to see the team make a lot of big strides this weekend.”