The Huskies begin their fall exhibition schedule this Saturday in the Illinois Collegiate Softball Championship.

NIU had three games scheduled for this past weekend, but they were canceled due to rain.
The Huskies were supposed to play one game on Saturday against Loyola Chicago in DeKalb. NIU had two more games for Sunday against Notre Dame and Lewis University in Joliet, but those were also canceled due to rain.

Group play consists of four groups with three teams in each. Group 1 contains Northwestern, Eastern Illinois and Heartland Community College. Group 2 has DePaul, Bradley and SIU-Edwardsville. Group 3 contains University of Illinois SIU-Carbondale and Western Illinois. The Huskies are in Group 4, along with Illinois State and UIC.

The winner of each group moves on to the second day for the semifinals. The Group 1 winner will face the Group 4 winner; and the Group 2 winner will face the Group 3 winner. For group play, in the event of a tie the team to move on will be decided by head-to-head victories. If that does not work, they will decide it by run differential, or there will be a coin flip.

NIU finished last season at 13-30 and fourth place in the MAC West Division.

The Huskies will play their first game against host team ISU at noon.

The Red Birds finished last season with a 28-20 record and made the NCAA Tournament.
NIU finishes group play with a game against UIC at 2:30 p.m.

The Flames ended last season at 20-33 and finished fourth in the Horizon League.

The games will be held at Champion Fields at Maxwell Park in Normal, Ill.

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