It is the battle of the undefeated as head coach
Melinda Fischer and the Illinois State softball team travel to Wichita, Kansas, to take on the Shockers at Wilkins Stadium, on March 29-30. Illinois State is 6-0 in Valley action, while Wichita State is now 8-0.
The Redbirds (13-15) will be forced to rebound from a three-game losing streak in which they dropped a 2-0 loss to Northwestern at home on Tuesday and two losses -- 5-0 and 3-0 -- to Iowa at Pearl Field on Wednesday. The Shockers (22-8) are looking good as of late, although they ended a six-game winning streak with a 2-1 loss to No. 6 Nebraska on Wednesday. However, Wichita State rebounded as it picked up two wins Thursday night over Southwest Missouri State.
Fischer feels the team knows what it has to do to be ready for the weekend.
Wichita State has always been a good hitting team that is powerful with the bat, said Fischer. We have to ready in all aspects of the game and be able put it together back-to-back. We just have to bring the game with us that we are capable of having in order to beat them.
Illinois State is looking to build off of the past two weekends of Valley action, in which the Redbirds swept Northern Iowa at the Redbird Softball Complex and Evansville at Cooper Stadium.
Last weekend was the battle of preseason No. 1 and No. 2, added Fischer. This weekend is the battle of the undefeated, and that is the way the rest of the Valley season will go. These are big games and we have to be ready for them.
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