DEKALB, Ill. – Northern Illinois University Softball team continues its six-game road trip when the Huskies travel to Mount Pleasant, Michigan for a weekend series with Central Michigan beginning Friday.
 
"We're going in with the goal of winning the series and gain a game on them in the standing," said NIU head coach Christina Sutcliffe. "Going in, we've talked about pulling two out of three this weekend."
 
The Huskies (21-16, 9-6) enter Friday's (2 p.m. CT) single game on a bit of a roll. NIU has won five of its last six and taken its last two series, including last weekend at Western Michigan. The Huskies also boast the Mid-American Conference West Division's Player of the Week in Sam Schmidt (Lombard, Ill./Willowbrook).
 
"We traditionally haven't performed that well up in Kalamazoo, so it was nice to win two out of three there," she said. "Minus Ball State, we've won all of our series this year. We're going to try and keep doing that. It is nice to get on a roll because I think we were starting to panic a little bit with where we were in the conference. It's always nice to stay above .500."
 
NIU faces a tough test in Central Michigan pitcher Rachel Knapp. The Chippewas senior leads the league with a 1.38 earned run average and is second in the MAC in batting average against.
 
"They have an All-American candidate it Knapp," Sutcliffe said. "Even if we can get her out of the game, I don't know that it's that much of a relief because [Hannah] Warren is doing a great job for them as well. We've got to go into the game trying to score two or three runs and hold them from there."
 
Following Friday's game, the Huskies and Chippewas (28-12, 11-4) will face off in a doubleheader Saturday. First pitch for game one is set for 12 p.m. CT, with the second game to follow. Fans can follow all the action live via live stats on NIUHuskies.com.
 
-NIU-