Illinois State will be battling for a spot in the Missouri Valley Conference Tournament when Northern Iowa comes to town this weekend for a three-game series. The Birds, currently No. 6 in the league, will take on the team (No. 7 UNI) trying to replace them in the top six in the conference standings.
Only the six teams with the best win percentage in conference play advance to the tournament. The Panthers last made the MVC tournament in 2002, while the Redbirds have never missed a conference tournament.
The Birds will be looking for a little redemption this weekend since last season the Panthers were the only team to hand them two losses in a road Valley series. The Redbirds entered the series atop the league standings, but fell to third with the losses. The Birds dropped the first game, 7-2, before evening the series at one game apiece with a 4-2 win in game two. The Panthers took the series with a 5-2 win in the final game. ISU is 45-11-1 all-time against UNI under head coach
Melinda Fischer.
UNI no longer has pitching ace Malinda McClintock, who stymied the Redbird offense last season. However, the Panthers have combatted that problem by adding three freshmen to their pitching battery. Rookie Amanda Hess leads the pitching staff with a 10-9 record, a 2.41 ERA and 91 strikeouts. Senior third baseman Erin Strellner leads the Panther offense with a .397 average. Freshman Jamie Kelling follows with a .352 average and a team high 51 hits.
The Panthers are coming off a pair of losses (7-3, 4-3) at Wisconsin on Wednesday, April 27. That same day, the Redbirds came from behind to claim an 11-2 win over Northern Illinois in Normal. Illinois State erupted for eight fourth-inning runs to put the Huskies away in five innings. The Birds, who had 11 hits in the game, hadnt compiled double-digit hits since completing its series sweep of Bradley over a month ago on March 20. It also marked just the third time this season that ISU scored in double figures.
The two teams will play a doubleheader Saturday starting at noon at Redbird Softball Complex. Illinois State seniors Lauren Bierwirth, Dominique Borba, Serena Cruz, Amy Ehret, Mandy Garner and Kate Stake will be honored prior to the series finale on Sunday at noon.
