The Falcons softball team will travel to DeKalb, Illinois to take on the Northern Illinois Huskies in a three game series beginning Friday at 3 p.m. and a Saturday doubleheader with the first game beginning at 1 p.m.
The Falcons have lost eight of their last nine games and look to get back on track with a lot of time left to go in the regular season. The team’s latest struggle has been on the offensive end, as the team has only piled in 13 runs during that nine game span. However, Falcons head coach Sarah Willis assures us that the team will be fine going forward offensively.
“We’ll be ready to go this weekend,” Willis said. “I realize we haven’t been so great offensively lately, but that goes back to being locked in and focusing on our game plan. Last weekend, we certainly found out the hard way and we dug ourselves in a hole the first two games, but we came together and put on a great offensive display in last Saturday’s game which got us the win. I think we’re capable of being a high scoring team, and I believe the team thinks that as well.”
This will be the team’s third straight road trip, and knowing that it’s hard to win on the road, it can also be very tiring for some of the players. However, Coach Willis believes that not playing earlier in the week could be beneficial to the team.
“I think we’ll use this off time to get players more rest,” she said. “I think it’s important that while we work hard, it’s also important to rest our bodies and take some time to get refocused and rejuvenated going into our next game.”
Last season, Northern Illinois only gave up two runs to the Falcons. In addition, the Huskies scored a massive 23 runs in three games last year. The Falcons pitching will have to be the key to the game as the team can only go where the pitching takes them. The Falcons cannot afford to play from behind as in the previous games.
A player to watch for the Falcons is junior infielder Chelsea Raker, who is currently batting at .388 and leads the team in home runs and runs batted in. Along with Raker, junior shortstop Aspen Searle has quietly put together a great season being a very consistent hitter for the team as she is tied with Raker for most hits on the team with 38.
“This is a well-coached team and it’s certainly not going to be an easy one to say the least,” Willis said. “But I believe if we play to what I think we’re capable of I think we can beat anyone and if we do that this weekend I think we’ll be in great shape.”
