By passing its showdown Thursday with Illinois State due to poor weather conditions, the NIU softball team’s next challenge will come against Western Michigan this weekend at Mary Bell Field in DeKalb.

Saturday’s game was originally set to begin at 1 p.m., but has been moved to 4 p.m. while Sunday’s game is scheduled to start at 2 p.m. The Huskies (15-18 overall, 4-4 MAC) will not reschedule their game against ISU.

WMU’s game against Loyola-Chicago Wednesday was also cancelled due to poor weather. Thus, neither team has taken the field since April 10.

In the meantime, NIU coach Donna Martin has been stressing how important it is for her team to understand they need to continue to grow.

“We have a young base of players on this team,” Martin said. “We have two really great seniors that are great leaders on the field and great student-athletes, but the rest of our team is basically freshmen, sophomores and juniors.”

The Huskies are tied with WMU (12-13, 4-4) and Ball State for second in the MAC West. NIU’s previous two MAC losses came at the hands of BSU last weekend.

WMU is led on offense by catcher Becky Bartosz. The catcher leads the team with three home runs, 13 RBIs and a .298 batting average.

On defense, WMU pitching has allowed the least home runs in the MAC, giving up eight. Hurler Kyla Sullivan steers the Broncos from the mound. Sullivan has posted a 1.44 ERA, 7-8 record and 79 strikeouts in 106-plus innings for WMU.

For the Huskies, junior pitcher Taryn Hagemann started their last game, meaning freshman Kate Greenough should get the nod for NIU on Saturday.

The first-year player is 9-10 in 18 starts. Greenough has allowed 46 earned runs and 140 hits while striking out 67 this spring. The Huskies pitching has also been backed up by the team’s .954 fielding percentage, good for second in the MAC.

On offense, NIU is also second in the MAC with a .253 team batting average. At the top of the charts for the Huskies sits junior Krista McPherson’s .358 batting average. But third baseman Michelle Nendza leads NIU with three home runs and 22 RBIs.

Though Martin stresses the importance of MAC games, the coach said the contest that won’t be made up against No. 19 ISU would’ve served her team well.