With a clean sweep of Ohio over the weekend, the NIU softball team will look to keep positive momentum as it will face instate rival Illinois State.

The Huskies, (20-23 Overall) will finish their non-conference season at 5 p.m. in DeKalb against the Redbirds (33-12) who haven’t played a game in the last six days.

Coach Donna Martin isn’t worried about the Redbirds trying to rub off any rust, and she knows she can only be concerned about her team.

“The team talked a lot about what they want to do and accomplish,” Martin said. “The key is to have that same energy and focus.”

What the team talked about, was changing their approach to how they warm-up before a game. The decision and implementation of the plan was done entirely by the team.