After winning its second Missouri Valley Conference Softball Tournament in as many years, the Illinois State Redbirds found out their NCAA Regional fate Sunday when the pairings announcement took place.
With the No. 5 seed in the seventh region, the Redbirds will face the Iowa Hawkeyes, the host and No. 2 seed, in the first round of the double-elimination tournament scheduled to begin Thursday, May 17 and conclude Sunday, May 20 in Iowa City, Iowa.
Other teams participating in the Iowa Regional include Notre Dame (No.1 seed, 51-5), South Carolina (No.3 seed, 40-18-1), DePaul (50-14-1) and Western Illinois (33-19).
Illinois State has faced three of the five teams participating in the regional, including four matches against the Hawkeyes. The Birds shutout Iowa 2-0 at the Arizona State Tournament in February then fell to the Hawks in a single game in Texas and a doubleheader in Iowa City in late March.
ISU has also played DePaul and Western Illinois this season, losing to the Blue Demons in a doubleheader in Chicago and to the Westerwinds in a single game in Macomb.
According to Illinois State head coach
Melinda Fischer, the 2001 MVC Coach of the Year, she couldnt be more excited to be close to home and returning to regionals.
I am just so excited right now, Fischer said after the pairing show. I feel so good about playing close to home, having this group in the tournament for the second year in a row and knowing our fans will travel to Iowa to see us play.
This team did exactly what it is capable of at the tournament and had the character and drive to make it back to regionals, Fischer continued. That last game in the tournament was definitely a fight but this team showed it can win and here we are.
With a 1-3 record against Iowa this season, Fischer and her team are ready to face the Big Ten Tournament Champs again and are anxious at the possibility of playing other teams they are familiar with.
Iowa is awesome but we have beat them, Fischer said. They will come at us hard. DePaul and Western Illinois are also tough teams but again we have the advantage of seeing them during the season, so it will be a good fight for all the teams involved.
