DEKALB, Ill. – The Northern Illinois University softball team concludes the regular season, at home as the Huskies play host to the Chippewas of Central Michigan at Mary M. Bell Field Friday.    
 
First pitch for this weekend's series is set for 6 p.m. on Friday.  The Huskies (19-29, 9-10) and the Chippewas (21-22, 11-9) will then play a doubleheader starting at 1 p.m. on Saturday.  Central Michigan owns a 42-24 record all-time against NIU dating back to 1982.  The Huskies lost two out of three against the Chippewas last season up in Mt. Pleasant, Mich. 
 
"Central [Michigan] always has a nice product on the field," said NIU head softball coach Christina Sutcliffe.  "Margo [Jonker] does a nice job with their team and getting them ready to play. They always get hot this time of the year getting into the MAC Tournament. " 
 
If the MAC Tournament started today, the Huskies would be the eighth seed. In order for the NIU to secure that eighth seed, the Huskies must win one of their three games against Central Michigan. However, should NIU lose all three and Bowling Green sweeps its three games with Ohio, the Falcons would claim the eighth and final spot. NIU can finish no higher than the eighth seed as Miami, the team above the Huskies, owns the tiebreaker by virtue of its series win over the Huskies to open MAC Play.  
 
In yesterday's doubleheader against Valparaiso, junior Abby Howlett (South Elgin, Ill. /St. Charles North) led the Huskies clubbing a grand slam in the second game.  Junior Jenny Van Geertry (Mokena, Ill. /Lincoln-Way East) added two home runs yesterday combined.  Van Geertry leads the Huskies overall batting .406 with six home runs and 25 RBIs.  Junior Sam Schmidt (Lombard, Ill. /Willowbrook) leads NIU with a .424 batting average in MAC play. 
 
Senior Alaynie Woollard (New Castle, Ind. /New Castle) leads NIU with six home runs in MAC play and is batting .377.  Woollard has a team-high seven triples and is one away from tying the single season team record for the most triples in a single season.  
 
"Obviously we want to continue to swing the bat well and I thought we did a nice job being patient against their [Valparaiso's] pitchers," said Sutcliffe.  "Hopefully we can continue that with Central [Michigan]."
 
Junior Alex Frenz (Oakville, Mo. /Oakville) continues to be a force to be reckoned with against MAC opponents.  The Huskie right-handed pitcher is 4-1 with an ERA of 1.49 and 21 strikeouts. Overall, Frenz leads the Huskies with a record of 8-6 and has an ERA of 2.67 in 16 games.  
 
Seniors Emma Ray (Verona, Wis. /Verona Area) and Keegan Hayes (Naperville, Ill. /Naperville Central) put up quality innings for the Huskies in Wednesday's doubleheader against Valparaiso.  Ray pitched four innings, in her first start of the season, surrendering four runs on five hits.  Hayes did not allow a run in three innings of relief in the two games. 
 
"I think you are going to see all five pitchers this weekend," said Sutcliffe.  "It was nice to see Emma [Ray] have some success and Keegan [Hayes] did phenomenal in relief yesterday.  Hopefully the five of them can put together some wins."
 
This weekend also features Strikeout for Cancer on Friday, benefiting Cal's Angels, and Senior Day on Saturday.  
 
"Anytime you can bring events like that into your stadium definitely will help from an energy standpoint," said Sutcliffe.  "Cal's Angels is a phenomenal organization that we have been lucky to have represented for the last four years. "  
 
Live streaming and stats will be available on niuhuskies.com.  Fans can follow the NIU Huskies Gameday account @NIUscoresfor inning-by-inning updates. Fans can follow the historic 60^thyear of NIU Huskies softball on Twitter @NIUSoftball, Facebook @NIU.Softball, and Instagram @niu_softball.