Jan. 30, 2008
Redbird All-Access members, watch head coach Melinda Fischer talk about the Redbird infield.
NORMAL, Ill. -
With spring practices already under way, the Illinois State softball team is preparing for what could be another historic season. Coming off two-straight NCAA Tournament appearances, and with the bulk of its potent offensive lineup back, the Redbirds are already receiving national recognition, as they earned 23 votes - tied with Missouri Valley Conference member Creighton for 31st-most in the nation - in the preseason USA Today/NFCA Division I Softball Poll released Jan. 23, along with five votes in the ESPN.com/USA Softball Collegiate Top-25 Poll released Tuesday.
With just over a week left until ISU opens its season at 10:30 a.m. CST Feb. 8 against Central Arkansas at the Central Florida Tournament in Orlando, GoRedbirds.com will present a three-day preview of the Redbirds' upcoming 2008 season. The second part of the series features a look at Illinois State's infield and outfield corps.
THE INFIELD
The Redbird infield will be one of the team's biggest assets in 2008, as every starter returns to a defensive starting set that recorded a .966
fielding percentage last season - the seventh-best single-season mark in school history.
Senior second baseman Tiffany Prager will anchor the Redbird infield in what will be her third season as a starter. One of ISU's finest infielders,
Prager has a career .980 fielding, which ranks No. 17 on the ISU career fielding percentage chart.
The other half of ISU's double-play combination is junior Kaprice Williams, who will be back as the starting shortstop. While the two-year starter
is deficient at times defensively up the middle, as she committed a team-high 16 errors in 2007, Williams' bat greatly improved last season,
making her an asset in the Redbird infield. Should Williams falter defensively, sophomore utility player Diciembre Vaca is a viable defensive
replacement for the Redbirds at shortstop.
After starting every game but one as a freshman in 2007, Kara Nelson will be back as the starting third baseman for Illinois State in
2008. The 2007 Easton First-Team All-America and Louisville Slugger/NFCA Division I Second-Team All-America selection committed just nine
errors in 167 chances (.946) last season. Nelson's strong arm, combined with her consistent fielding and stellar hitting skills, make her an
indispensable part of the Redbird infield.
While junior Amber Smith is a certainty to start at first base when she is not in the circle for the Redbirds, sophomore corner infielder Michelle Henderson is the early favorite to be ISU's regular starting first baseman when Smith is pitching. As a freshman last season, Henderson
started strong offensively, only to see her offensive output and playing time deminish as the season progressed. Henderson will be
challenged at first base by freshman utility player Abby Olson, who showed promise during the Redbirds' fall tournament season, as the
Hartsburg, Ill., native batted .353 with a team second-best seven RBI and a 1.000 fielding percentage.
THE OUTFIELD
With the departure of starting outfielders Jackie Williams and Kelsey Warning after the 2007 season, the Redbird outfield will see the most new faces in 2008, as ISU returns just one familiar face, junior Jessie Buker, this season. Buker will most likely see the majority of her playing time in left field, a position that she started 53 games in 2007.
Right field is slated to be manned by senior co-captain Andrea Shifflet, who has yet to see an inning of playing time in her ISU softball career,
after she transferred from Lewis and Clark Community College following the 2006 season.
Rounding out the outfield crew is junior-transfer Katie Mathis and junior Katie Thoennes. Both Mathis and Thoennes are projected to battle for the starting center field spot for ISU once the team begins its early-season tournament schedule. Thoennes played in 24 games in the outfield in 2007, but did not earn a start.
"The outfield is one area, defensively, that we're not really sure what is going to happen," Illinois State head softball coach Melinda Fischer said. "I really look for Andrea Shifflet to produce for us in the outfield as a starter. She's a senior, has been in our program for a year and she knows what we expect.
"Katie Mathis is another player that I look to be in the outfield for us somewhere this season. We played her at all three positions in the fall (tournament season), and she showed some great offensive production throughout the course of the fall season."
SEASON PREVIEW SCHEDULE:
Tuesday: Season Outlook and Projected Lineup
Wednesday: Infield and Outfield
Thursday: The Battery
