DEKALB, Ill. – The defending Mid-American Conference West Division champion Northern Illinois University Softball team will begin its title defense Friday when it faces Rutgers in Athens, Ohio.
 
The Huskies will face Rutgers at 9 a.m. to open the 2017 season and Ohio at 2 p.m., both times Central. NIU will wrap up play at Ohio Saturday morning, facing the Scarlet Knights at 9 a.m. and Bobcats at 11:30 a.m. CT. Live scoring will be available for all four games.
 
Originally scheduled to play in the 27th Annual Campbell/Cartier Classic in San Diego, Calif., the Huskies and Scarlet Knights are meeting in Athens and, along with the Bobcats, due to extensive rain in the San Diego area. The three teams will compete in a three-team round-robin tournament at the Ohio Softball Field.
 
The 2017 NIU Softball team has lofty goals for this season. Not only are the Huskies looking to repeat as division champions and win a MAC title for the first time since 2000, they are looking to top last year's win total of 35. This year's team wants to reach the 40-win mark.
 
"Every year we've just kind of creeped up there and get closer and closer to an RPI that might make us contenders for that at-large bid," NIU head coach Christina Sutcliffe said. When you look at the way it falls, if you have 40 wins with in a season you're usually in the top 50 in the country. It's our mission to be regionally recognized and nationally known and 40 is one of those numbers we're trying to chase.
 
"Last year, they set the goal at 35 [wins] and we did exactly that. I was a little nervous to put a number on it this year, but they said 40 and I'm excited to see them go chase it."
 
The Huskies have plenty of experienced players returning to help reach those goals. Eleven players with double digit starts from last season return this year led by seniors Kayti Grable (Santee, Calif./Santana) and Kali Kossakowski (Elgin, Ill./St. Edward). The Huskie infielders started 50 and 52 games, respectively, for NIU last season and are the two leading hitters from last year as well.
 
Grable, who was a second-team all-region selection and first-team All-MAC honoree, batted .384 with 56 hits, including seven home runs, and 49 runs batted in. Kossakowski, who earned second-team All-MAC honors, was third on the team in hitting with a .311 average and a team-high 49 runs scored and 21 stolen bases.
 
NIU's pitching staff proved to be one of its strengths last season. The Huskies employed a traditional pitching staff, much like in baseball, and it worked quite well. MAC Freshman of the Year and third-team all-region selection Alex Frenz (Oakville, Mo./Oakville) led the way for the Huskies in the circle last season. She posted a 16-8 record with a 2.27 earned run average in 39 starts.
 
Tara Thacker (Uniontown, Ohio/North Canton Hoover) made 33 appearances last year, mainly in relief, and tallied a 10-7 mark with a 3.37 ERA. Emma Ray (Verona, Wis./Verona Area) was 4-0 in her 13 appearances, including nine starts in 2016. Keegan Hayes (Naperville, Ill./Naperville Central) rounds out the quartet of returning pitchers for the Huskies. The Huskie junior was 5-5 in 17 appearances last year.
 
"We've got five pitchers, all quality, that could get some innings this year," Sutcliffe said. It's really nice that we're able to have our starter, middle reliever and an end of game reliever situation. That can rotate amongst all of them.
 
"They're all very different, whether they go up, down, in, out, offspeed, what not. It's a really good balance that if someone isn't having some success, we know we can get the next Huskie out there."
 
Similar to her pitching staff, Sutcliffe sets her line up based on match ups. Not just her starting line up either. Sutcliffe has a starting line up and a late inning line up she utilizes
 
"We really do play a game of match ups," she said. "We're going to put the hitting line up out there that we think is going to match that pitcher the best. Then, we try and make a defense around that. You have to outscore the other team in the end. So for us, it's usually the better hitting line up in there.
 
"It's not figuring out a line up, it's figuring out that game's line up. We're going to play our 1-4 inning line up and we have a late inning line up as well."
 
As a result, the 2017 Huskies have plenty of experienced players to fill two big holes from last year.
 
One of the biggest challenges facing this year's squad is who will take over behind the plate for the loss of All-America Emily Naegele. The Huskie catcher put up some impressive numbers last season and was a tremendous leader for NIU the last two years.
 
"Obviously Naegele did great things for us last year," she said. "But it's a new year and this team's up. We've got to figure out how to be successful with this team."
 
Alaynie Woollard (New Castle, Ind./New Castle) and Bekah Harnish (Maple Park, Ill./Burlington) have been battling it out the last few weeks. The duo played in the infield all of last season, but have catching experience. The pair will be splitting their time between the infield and behind the plate this season.
 
Similarly filling the hole left by the departure of Caitlyn Warren, the other Huskie senior on last year's team, will be just as important. Fortunately for NIU, three freshmen last year saw significant playing time.
 
Jenny Van Geertry (Mokena, Ill./Lincoln-Way East) and Katie Lamich (Naperville, Ill./Naperville Central) played alongside Caitlyn Warren, who provided valuable senior leadership in the outfield last year. Jessica Rio (Plainfield, Ill./Plainfield) also saw playing time in the outfield as a freshman last season, tallying 31 starts. Sutcliffe feels the outfield will be strong for NIU this season.
 
"We are fortunate to replace Caitlyn Warren in that we had three freshmen outfielders that were extremely talented," Sutcliffe said. "Obviously, with a year of experience under their belt, they're trying to fight it out, along with senior Jordyn Bowen. I think our outfield is probably our strongest suit right now."
 
Sutcliffe believes two things will be critical for the Huskies to achieve their goals this season.
 
"Getting off to a good start always helps the confidence of a team," Sutcliffe said. "We just have to figure out how to gel. Figuring out what our identity is going to be is going to be key for us."
 
-NIU-