March 9, 2007
NORMAL, Ill. -
Before the No. 18 Illinois State softball team can host its first five home games of the season, the Redbirds (15-5) travel to their final spring tournament, heading to Cape Girardeau, Mo., to participate in the Southeast Missouri State Spring Classic, March 10-11.
The two-day tournament will be played at the Southeast Softball Complex and will feature the SEMO Redhawks, the Redbirds, Missouri Valley Conference rival Bradley, IUPUI and Belmont. Illinois State will play two games both on Saturday and Sunday. Taking on the Braves at 9:30 a.m. on March 10, ISU will then face the Jaguars of IUPUI at 1:30 p.m. on Saturday. Rounding out the tournament with back-to-back games on March 11, the `Birds will play SEMO at 1:30 p.m., followed by a 3:30 p.m. matchup with the Belmont Bruins.
Illinois State owns a commanding 42-15 lead in the all-time series with Valley foe Bradley. The `Birds took two of three games from the Braves in 2006, with BU winning the last meeting 2-0 in Peoria, Ill. A leadoff walk and an Illinois State error in the third inning in conjunction with the Redbirds' inability to push runners across led to ISU's demise as it fell to Bradley, 2-0, on March 26, 2006. The `Birds out-hit the Braves 6-4 but left 10 runners stranded as ISU dropped the first Missouri Valley Conference game of the season, snapping an eight-game winning streak.
The Braves were picked to finish seventh in the annual Missouri Valley Conference Preseason Coaches Poll after a 25-23 overall record in 2006. BU went 10-13 in the MVC last season, finishing in a tie for seventh place, just shy of postseason play in the State Farm Missouri Valley Conference Tournament. Bradley is off to a 8-2 start this season, the best since the 1995 season, going 1-1 last week at the Red and Black Cardinal Tournament in Louisville, Ky. The tournament was cut short due to the weather after BU suffered a 1-0 loss to tourney-host Louisville but defeated Western Kentucky, 3-2. The loss to Louisville snapped a five-game Brave winning streak that dated back to Feb. 18.
Saturday's meeting between the Redbirds and the Jaguars will be the first in program history. IUPUI has yet to win a game in 2007, entering this weekend's tournament with an 0-7 record. The Jaguars were at the University of Kentucky Tournament last weekend in Lexington, where they dropped four games to Butler (2), Evansville and Kentucky.
The `Birds have a slim 2-1 advantage over SEMO in the all-time series. ISU's wins are sandwiched around a 1997 loss. In the last meeting on March 7, 2004, Illinois State came out on top, 9-7, in a single game at the Hilltopper Spring Classic in Bowling Green, Ky. The Redhawks are off to a 2-4 record in 2007, with wins over Alabama A&M (8-0) and Central Arkansas (11-1). Most recently, SEMO dropped a pair of games on March 4 at the All Missouri Cancer Tournament to UMKC (6-0) and Missouri State (10-4).
The Redbirds are undefeated against Belmont, boasting a 3-0 all-time record. The teams have met for the last three years, from 2004-06, with ISU downing the Bruins by a combined score of 27-6 (6-3, 10-2, 11-1). In 2006 at the Western Kentucky Invitational in Bowling Green, Ky., the Redbirds had a season-high 15 hits while running their record to 10-7. Amber Smith hit a pair of homers and drove in four runs, and Stacy Birk was solid in the circle after a shaky start as the Illinois State softball team claimed an 11-1 win over Belmont.
Belmont is off to a 3-11 record in 2007. The Bruins have picked up one-run wins over South Alabama (9-8), Morehead State (6-5) and Indiana State (4-3). The slim victory against Indiana State is Belmont's only decision over a Missouri Valley Conference team in three attempts this season. The Sycamores rallied to take the second game of the March 7 doubleheader, 6-0, from the Bruins and Evansville stole two victories from Belmont (8-2, 2-0) on March 5. The Bruins will go up against two more Valley opponents this weekend in Illinois State and Bradley.
