DEKALB, Ill. – The Northern Illinois University softball team returns to the road this weekend when it travels to Toledo, Ohio for three-game series with Toledo starting on Friday. 
 
The Huskies (14-24, 5-6) will play a doubleheader on Friday playing at 12 p.m. and 2 p.m. and Saturday at 12 p.m.  All times are Central.  NIU has won the last two meetings and the Huskies are 38-24 all-time against the Rockets dating back to 1984.  Overall, Toledo has won four out of its last five games while NIU has dropped its last four. 
 
"They [Toledo] are doing really well in the MAC and they only have lost one game," said NIU head softball coach Christina Sutcliffe.  "They are putting up a lot of runs.  They are putting up somewhere between 12 and 16 runs a lot of the time and we just need to figure out how to pitch around their hitters.  We just need to be smart with their hitters, knowing when to walk them, and hopefully attack their pitchers early."
 
The Huskies are led at the plate by junior Katie Lamich (Naperville, Ill. /Naperville Central). The NIU outfielder hit .600 in Wednesday's doubleheader against Ball State while hitting .270 this season. Junior Dominique Greeno (Lacey, Wash. /North Thurston) registered three out of the five RBIs in the second game with the Cardinals with a three-run double in the sixth inning of the second game. Junior Jenny Van Geertry (Mokena, Ill. /Lincoln-Way East) continues to lead the NIU attack hitting .409 with four home runs and 22 batted-in.  
 
"I think we kind of settled into a lineup right now and overall they are doing a nice job turning the lineup over," said Sutcliffe.  "[Katie] Lamich is doing a great job in that ninth spot by getting on base for Jenny [Van Geertry] to drive her in.  That has been a nice surprise."
 
Junior Alex Frenz (Oakville, Mo. /Oakville) started the first game of Wednesday's doubleheader, pitching five innings while giving up only one run on five hits.  Frenz is second on the team posting a 3.34 ERA in 27 appearances.  Freshman Mackenzie Bryan (Elwood, Ind. /Elwood) leads the Huskies with a 3.09 ERA in 54.1 innings of work.
 
Live stats will be available through utrockets.com while streaming will be done through ESPN3. Fans can follow the Huskies softball team on Twitter @NIUSoftball, Facebook @NIU.Softball, and Instagram @niu_softball.  
 
–NIU–