After sweeping in-state rival Purdue on Tuesday’s doubleheader, Indiana softball will play Illinois in its final home series at Andy Mohr Field this weekend.
“Every weekend is a special one with these seniors,” head coach Shonda Stanton said. “I don’t expect much to change except for there to be more people.”
Last year, the two teams split the series at Eichelberger Field in Champaign, Illinois, 2-2. Key returning players from the series include Illinois’ sophomore pitcher Tori McQueen. McQueen has a 2.61 earned run average, 11-4 win-loss record and 111 strikeouts in 91.1 innings pitched this season.
Illinois is 30-16 this season with a 12-4 Big Ten Conference record. This past weekend, Illinois went 2-1 in the three-game series against Iowa and defeated DePaul University 6-1 in a standalone game Wednesday.
Other key players to look out for on the Fighting Illini’s roster include senior second baseman Avrey Steiner, who has a .365 batting average, and senior left fielder Danielle Davis, who has a 1.026 on-base plus slugging average. Senior pitcher Sydney Sickels has a 2.22 ERA and 149 strikeouts in 110.1 innings pitched.
While Indiana beat Illinois twice last season, Illinois leads the all-time series 22-10. Indiana is 25-17 and 8-9 in Big Ten play. Indiana’s offense remained consistent and pitching had a great performance at the doubleheader against Purdue on Tuesday snapped a six-game losing streak.
“We’re trying to keep the momentum from Purdue,” graduate student third baseman Grayson Radcliffe said. “The losing streak was gut-wrenching with how close we were in some of those games.”
The first game of Indiana’s last home series at Andy Mohr Field will be at 1 p.m. Friday. The second game will be at noon Saturday, and the last game will be 1 p.m. Sunday. All games will be broadcast on Big Ten Network+.
