Written by: Zack West

The Lady Zips softball team looks to build on their sweep of Mid-American Conference foe Northern Illinois when they travel to Eastern Michigan on Friday and take on Central Michigan in a two-game series on Saturday and Sunday.

The Zips (17-26-1, 3-11 MAC) got their first sweep of a MAC rival last weekend, defeating NIU 8-6 and 12-6, and look to use that momentum to propel them into the weekend.

As of late, the Zips bats have been hot. In their past six games, Akron has scored 33 runs while going 3-3.  In the six games previous, the team scored a mere 13 runs while going 1-5.

The Zips enter the weekend led at the plate by Alissa Birkhimer. She has a team best .383 batting average to go along with seven home runs and 34 RBIs.

From the mound, Brittany Mauer enters the weekend with a 15-19 record and a 4.06 ERA to go along with 112 strikeouts.

The Eastern Michigan Eagles (19-28, 5-11 MAC) enter Friday on a four-game losing streak, dropping two games to Miami (Ohio) 0-8 and 0-10 and two games to Ball State 7-10 and 5-9.

Central Michigan (21-22, 6-9 MAC) goes into their two-game series against the Zips dropping three of their last four games. They fell in a pair of games against Ball State 0-4 and 6-9, and split a two-game series against Miami (Ohio), losing 0-4 and winning 2-0.

After this weekend, the Zips will take on rival Kent State on May 4 in a double header. They will then finish up their MAC schedule against Buffalo in a two-game series on May 5 and 6. Both games will be at Lee R. Jackson Field.

The Zips will then compete in the MAC tournament, which begins May 9 at Firestone Stadium in Akron.