Despite only practicing on its home field three times this spring, the Eastern Illinois softball team will play seven games this weekend to open the season.

The Panthers open today with a 3 p.m. double-header against the North Dakota State Bison at Williams Field.

Head coach Lloydene Searle said the Panthers have benefited from practicing on the field the past couple of days but need to play to get into a rhythm.

“We need games,” she said. “Just being able to go through games and get their mindset right and keep emotions in check is going to be important.”

The Bison (2-3) will have a bit of an advantage over the Panthers in that they have played five games already, but that has also given Searle and her coaching staff a chance to get a scouting report to find out their tendencies.

“In the past they were a big power team,” she said. “But I understand now they like to slap the ball around and put it in play, so it’ll be a good defensive test for us.

“We want our defense to get some reps and our pitchers to locate their pitches and just get us some game action to get ready for the five games we have the rest of the weekend.”

North Dakota State is led by senior infielder Heather Hyatt and a two-way threat in freshman Allison Bakke.

Hyatt leads the Bison in hitting coming into today’s game with a .526 batting average, as well as being perfect in four stolen base attempts. Bakke is the team’s top pitcher as well as its second leading hitter.

In four appearances this season, she is 2-2 with a 1.69 ERA. She has struck out 27 batters in 29.1 innings pitched. At the plate she is hitting .333 and is tied for the team lead with two runs batted in.

“They are a young team with a lot of freshmen and sophomores,” Searle said. “Their key player is Bakke, and she is someone our pitchers are going to have to contend with and keep down.”

Senior Heather Hoeschen will be called upon to take the ball in game one against the Bison. Hoeschen led the Panther pitchers with 55 strikeouts last season in 131.1 innings pitched. She also tied for the team lead with sophomore Andrea Darnell picking up eight wins.