March 23, 2007
NORMAL, Ill. -
Led by Missouri Valley Conference Athlete of the Week Jessie Buker and Prairie Farms MVC Scholar-Athlete of the Week Stacy Birk, the No. 17 Illinois State softball team enters the second weekend of Valley play, traveling to Evansville, Ind., to take on the Purple Aces in a three-game series. The Redbirds and the Purple Aces will square off in a doubleheader beginning at noon on Saturday, before Sunday's noon matchup at Cooper Stadium.
One game under .500 in the conference race, UE is 2-3 in the Missouri Valley Conference, picking up two wins over Indiana State in a March 17-18 series. The Sycamores downed Evansville in the second game of last Saturday's doubleheader, 2-1, in Terre Haute. Most recently, the Aces dropped a pair of games to Southern Illinois on Tuesday. Evansville was scheduled to play No. 7 Northwestern at home on Thursday night but the game was called due to rain.
The home team is 17-6 overall on the season, while the visiting Redbirds boast a 25-6 record and are a perfect 3-0 in the MVC. The Redbirds are coming off a pair of midweek wins over Illinois (7-6) and No. 18 DePaul (4-3) and a seven-game homestand that saw the `Birds record a 6-1 mark over the last 10 days.
Illinois State leads the all-time series with Evansville, 22-15. Last season, the `Birds swept the Aces in the three-game conference series in Normal for the first time since 2003. The first meeting between the teams dates back to 1984, when ISU won a 3-0 decision at home against the Purple Aces. The squads met once more in 1987, before Evansville was admitted into the Missouri Valley Conference in 1993.
In 2006, freshman Kaprice Williams made Illinois State head coach Melinda Fischer's 700th victory even more memorable with a pair of two-run homers, giving her three homers in the series, to put ISU out in front early in the 7-0 game one win. Birk hit a walk-off home run with one out in the bottom of the seventh for a 1-0 victory in the nightcap, as the Redbirds swept the Missouri Valley Conference series from Evansville. After the win, Fischer owned a 701-478-3 career record.
Evansville started the 2007 season winning three straight games before dropping a Feb. 18 game to Georgia Tech, 7-5. The Yellow Jackets are now ranked No. 18/22 in the country. The Purple Aces then strung together nine straight wins from Feb. 23 to March 5 en route to their current 17-6 record.
Illinois State and Evansville lead the league in numerous offensive categories. The Redbirds sit in the conference's top spot in batting average, slugging percentage, on-base, percentage, runs scored, hits, runs batted in, doubles, home runs and total bases. Of those groups, Evansville ranks No. 2 in the MVC in batting average, slugging percentage and on-base percentage.
