For the NIU softball team, a week-long break after dropping both games of a doubleheader Wednesday against Loyola of Chicago, was a welcomed gift.

The Huskies (4-16) are batting just .200 as a team and have only one hitter over .300 in senior Katie Colby. So it goes without saying that hitting was an emphasis during the week of practice.

“It was a nice week to regroup,” said head coach Lindsay Chouinard. “We’ve been getting hitters a lot of reps and just stressing to them to keep battling.”

The Huskies will put the vacation to the test today during a doubleheader against Valparaiso at Mary M. Bell Field. First pitch is set for 3 p.m. with second game slated for 5 p.m.

Chouinard has yet to decide who will start game one and two, but whoever it is, she will have her work cut out for her as Valparaiso comes to DeKalb with a 16-7 record and a team batting average of .333. Pitchers will have to be wary of Valpo senior Ashley Wolter who is batting .414 with four home runs and 19 RBIs.

But Chouinard doesn’t have her pitchers ready to run scared because of the impressive numbers.

“They have a lot of nice stats and a lot of wins, but they haven’t played too much competition so all the numbers are relative,” Chouinard said. “We’re going to do the same thing and attack the zone and attack the hitters.”

Chouinard does have the option of pitching freshman Morgan Bittner, who is coming off an impressive outing against Loyola in which she went seven innings, yielding one earned run despite being handed the loss.