The softball team will return to Mid-American Conference play with a pair of doubleheaders on the road this weekend.

First up is Akron on Friday, with games beginning at 1 p.m. and 3 p.m. The Chippewas will then head to Athens, Ohio, to play Ohio University at 2 p.m. Saturday and 1 p.m. Sunday.

Akron’s Julie Boyes has hit six home runs and driven in 19 RBIs on 29 hits this year.

“It depends on the situation how we will pitch to her,” Jonker said. “If first base is open, we will pitch around her so she can’t get the key hit that might hurt us.”

Ohio has four hitters with more than one home run.

“We want to get ahead in the count and make the hitter swing at our pitch and keep them off balance,” said senior Ali Pettit.

Pettit acknowledged the struggles at the plate for CMU, but she is not ignoring the pitching troubles.

“We just need to come out strong and hit the ball,” she said. “Hopefully, our pitchers will do the best they can to keep runs off the board as well.”

Junior Christina Novak said the key to coming away with a successful weekend is playing one inning at a time.

“We need our pitching to come around and we need everyone to step up to the next level because that is what it is going to take,” she said.

The Zips are 18-13 overall and 1-3 in the MAC coming into the weekend. Ohio enters the weekend at 10-15 with a conference record of 0-4.

Jonker said CMU’s 8-0 loss to Oakland on Wednesday was a wake-up call.

“I think that we are refocusing after because that was certainly not a good outing,” she said.

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E-mail the author: Jacob Lougheed