Snow, Arctic cold and wind chills around 30 below. Yeah, it must be the time of the year for the NIU softball team to start the 1993 campaign. After all it is spring semester, right?

All kidding aside, the Huskies will start the 1993 season this weekend heading down to Cajun country and the University of Southwestern Louisiana Tournament at Lafayette, LA.

The tournament involves NIU, USL and McNeese State. The Huskies will play each team twice with two games on Saturday and two games on Sunday. USL is ranked tenth nationally in the NCAA pre-season poll.

NIU is coming off a 33-25-2 season. The Huskies finished second in their final season in the North Star Conference with a record of 8-2. The team wrapped up 1992 with a 4-2 record in the National Invitational Championship Post-Season Tournament. With those accomplishments on the mantle, the Huskies head into the season with optimism.

“The team is anxious,” said head coach Dee Abrahamson, “They will be excited to not practice and they will be excited to play somebody other than each other.”

When asked if Abrahamson felt their was a disadvantage to being a northern team with the southern teams ability to practice out side more she felt their was a positive and a negative.

“Our goal is to get down there and get some innings in and get some experience. Being a northern team, we ask our players to make an adjustment from balls bouncing off gym floors to balls bouncing off dirt. One of the nice things about being a northern team is that weather to them which is kind of cool is very warm to us.” said Abrahamson.

Another slice of optimism for the Huskies is the experience of this year’s team. NIU returns 15 letterwinners from last year’s squad. Included in those returning is leading hitter and third baseman Stacy Paller and leading pitcher Kim Compton who posted a 13-8 record in 1992.

First pitch for NIU will be at 2 p.m. Saturday when the Huskies meet McNeese State. They will then take on the host Cajuns at 4 p.m. On Sunday NIU will meet USL at 11 a.m. and McNeese State at 1 p.m.