While Christmas break for most college students is a time to spend with family and friends, the Illinois State softball team will be spending time with each other as the Redbirds travel to Australia for an international trip that includes five days of competition.
In its first overseas trip under head coach
Melinda Fischer, the Redbird softball team leaves Dec. 28th for 16 days of fun down under and quality competition Fischer says will prepare the team for its fast-approaching spring season.
We are looking at this trip as a time to get some playing in, trying different combination lineups while everyone will contribute, basically like the fall season, Fischer said. Right now everyone is good to go and hopefully will have a great time. This is a tremendous opportunity for the team and program at Illinois State and this will jump start our spring season and help us see where we stand.
The Redbirds first day of competition is January 2, 2001, when ISU takes on Queensland Women in an evening doubleheader. Like the United States summer ASA leagues, all of ISUs competition, including Queensland Women, are Australian club teams, whose rosters include several Australian Olympic Medalists.
The Redbirds meet the same team on Jan. 3, then on the fourth of January, match-up with Queenslands Under 19s and Queensland Under 23s. ISU wraps up its contests in Australia with an evening game on Jan. 11.
With the way the weather has been here, we just hope to get outside and enjoy some warm weather and play softball, Fischer continued. The games wont count as wins or losses for us, but the team already talked about how it wants to come prepared and play these Australian teams like it would against our national champions, such as UCLA or Oklahoma. It will give us a chance to see what we are capable of and how the team will work together heading into our spring schedule.
With the exception of the three seniors (Bridget Fournie, Nicole Kurth and April Schermann), this team is very young and going on a trip like this is huge for some of our younger players, Fischer said. It will be about bonding as friends as well as a team.
The Redbirds return to Normal Jan. 12, at which time they will begin practice for its spring competition. Illinois State starts its season in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, Feb. 9-11.
