Playing indoors has come to an end as the NIU softball team gets on the dirt today in Texas to begin its 2011 campaign.

The Huskies will participate in two Texas tournaments, as well as playing in Colorado, California and Nevada before taking the field in DeKalb at the end of March to compete in MAC play.

“We like to have a pretty balanced schedule, and I like to challenge them early on,” said Lindsay Chouinard, fourth-year head coach. “Playing Texas, Louisville, Tulsa…are great opportunities for our girls to do something big in the first week.”

Chouinard characterizes the early season competition against top teams in the country as preparation for success at the MAC Tournament.

“[Players] learn how to play on a big stage, learn how to play against tough opponents, and they know they can compete,” Chouinard said. “It all starts from the beginning. To get a big win over a big opponent early on, nobody would ever say that’s a bad thing.”

As with every season, players are lost to graduation and freshmen come into the mix. The Huskies lost four to graduation, but Chouinard is confident in the freshman class filling in the gap.

“We lost Michelle Williams who hit for us all year long, and really three very good people and role players,” Chouinard said. “For us, this freshman class is bringing a significant part of that back. We’re looking for them to play and produce for us very early on.”

In the freshmen group of six, two are utility players who can play outfield and take the mound if necessary. Nicole Gremillion and Stephanie Tofft bring batting from the left side, while Gremillion also throws left-handed.

“It’s exciting to have more help from the pitcher’s mound,” said junior Morgan Bittner. “It’ll be nice to see them pitch a few games. They’ve been doing well at practice.”

Bittner led the Huskies from the mound last season throwing 22 complete games with a 2.82 ERA for a 19-16 record. Whitney Owens also returns, while Monica Segura left the team for personal reasons.

“We spent a lot of time together this fall working on their pitches,” Chouinard said. “Whitney’s getting to the form she was in prior to her arrival here and pre-[shoulder] surgery…Morgan has a done a really good job developing movement on her pitches, which is what she really wanted to work on this year.”

Offensively, the Huskies look to senior Zoe Sinner to continue her first-team all conference level of play. In her final season, Sinner hopes to help the team get to the MAC Championship game. Last year the Huskies fell in the semifinal round to end the season 25-34 overall, with a 10-10 MAC record. Andrea Colosimo returns with her second team all-conference award for her final season as well.

“The past two seasons we’ve seen what we’re capable of, but we’ve fallen short,” Sinner said. “It being our last year for me and [Andrea] we want to go all out and finish the season with a bang. It’s all or nothing at this point.”