The Iowa softball team will continue its road trip and head to Evanston, Illinois, to compete in a weekend series against Northwestern, beginning today.

The Hawkeyes dropped a double-header against Nebraska on Wednesday and stand at 9-23 overall, 1-7 in the conference. Iowa played its best game of the season with a win against Purdue last weekend, but the Hawks couldn’t continue to that in Lincoln, Nebraska.

Iowa struggled getting runners home and executing when it mattered most in the double-header. In the second game, Iowa left eight runners on base and had the bases loaded twice.

While the Hawks fought, it wasn’t enough to bring more runners home.

“We had a lot of runners on and a lot of chances,” Iowa head coach Marla Looper said in a release. “It’s frustrating. We just needed a little bit of luck and that key hit, and it could have been a different story.”

Northwestern lost two contests against No. 21 Minnesota last weekend, but that may not faze the Wildcats this weekend. The Wildcats own a 55-22 advantage over Iowa in the all-time series, and last season, Northwestern won the series, 2-1.

Northwestern, 11-20 overall, 2-4 in the Big Ten, has four players on the team hitting above .300. Senior Andrea Filler leads the team with a .344 clip. Sophomore Sammy Nettling (.327), senior Amy Letourneau (.313), and sophomore Sabrina Rabin (.311) can all hit.

Senior Kristen Wood leads the team with a 1.94 ERA in 11 appearances this season. Letourneau has had the most appearances in the circle for the team, and she has a 3.51 ERA and 5-7 record in 22 contests.

However, Iowa hits above .400 in Big Ten play. Redshirt senior Holly Hoffman and sophomore Sarah Kurtz are each hitting .400. Hoffman leads the Hawks with 12 hits in 24 at bats, and sophomore Allie Wood has a .429 clip in Iowa’s eight conference contests.

While Iowa may be short of winning in conference play, the bats clicked against the Cornhuskers, giving the Hawks reason to be optimistic.