Feb. 24, 2011

TOURNAMENT CENTRAL

DEKALB, Ill. - The Northern Illinois University softball team returns to the diamond this weekend when the Huskies travel to Lubbock, Texas to compete in the Jeannie McHaney Memorial Classic hosted by Texas Tech Feb. 25-27.

The Huskies open the tournament, with a doubleheader Friday afternoon at Texas Tech's Rocky Johnson Field. NIU faces Wichita State at 12 p.m., with a 2 p.m. first pitch scheduled for its game with Texas Tech. The Huskies take on the same two teams Saturday as NIU takes on the Shockers at 10 a.m. and the Red Raiders at 4 p.m. before closing out the weekend against St. John's Sunday morning at 9 a.m.

All times listed are Central. Fans can follow all the action for all five games live via Gametracker and both of NIU's games versus Texas Tech will be available through RaiderVision All-Access at www.texastech.com.

Northern Illinois (0-5) is making its second trip to the Lone Star State. The Huskies opened the season in Austin, Texas two weeks ago, at the Texas Classic. NIU head coach Lindsay Chouinard believes this weekend is all about improvement.

"We're hoping to see the team get better," Chouinard said. "That's the whole point of the preseason is to continue to improve. Everybody has an action plan and we talked about the things we need to work on this weekend. Hopefully, we'll see improvement.

"The competition should be good. That's the idea of the preseason. The girls are very aware of that fact. They are going to be challenged and that's what they want."

The Huskies received solid performances in the opening weekend from junior Dani Parrish (Plainfield, Ind./Plainfield) and sophomores Jennifer Barnett (Indianapolis, Ind./Roncalli) and Adriana Sanchez (San Fernando, Calif./Alemany).

Parrish earned MAC West Player of the Week honors after batting .333 going 6-for-18 from the plate with three RBIs and two runs scored. Barnett also batted .333 with a run scored and a RBI, while Sanchez went 3-for-12 with two RBIs in the five-game tourney.

-NIU-