Softball Resumes I-74 Rivalry This Weekend

April 11, 2008

Winners of five of its last six games, and riding a season-long five-game winning streak in Missouri Valley Conference play, the red-hot Illinois State softball team (16-15, 6-4 MVC) will travel to Peoria, Ill., Sunday and Monday to resume the I-74 Rivalry at Bradley (11-17, 3-9 MVC). Illinois State will be looking to win its third-straight conference series and pick up its 13th series victory all-time over Bradley.

The series was originally scheduled to be played Saturday and Sunday, but due to inclement weather expected in the central Illinois area this weekend, the three-game conference set has been moved to Sunday and Monday. The Redbirds and Braves will first square off with a single game at 2 p.m. Sunday at Laura Bradley Park in Peoria, Ill., and will then conclude the series with a 4 p.m. doubleheader Monday at the Eastside Centre in East Peoria, Ill.

Illinois State head coach Melinda Fischer believes that her team is being tested mentally with its recent schedule changes.

"With all of the rescheduling that we have gone through this season, our team has to be mentally and physically tough during the last part of the season in order to succeed," said Fischer. "With the rescheduling of this weekend's games to Sunday and Monday, that creates a situation where we will play a lot of games in a short period of time (nine games in the next 11 days), but that is what everyone wants to do (play a lot of games)."

The Braves finished seventh in The Valley last season with an 8-15 conference mark and a 26-23 overall record. Bradley followed up its 2007 performance with a seventh-place spot in this year's MVC Preseason Coaches' Poll. Through Thursday's games, the Braves sit in eighth place in The Valley with a 3-9 conference mark and an 11-17 overall record.

Junior Ashley Birdsong, a preseason first-team All-Valley selection, is the leading Bradley pitcher this season, as her 8-10 record and 3.01 ERA anchor a pitching staff that owns a combined 3.91 ERA, which ranks last in The Valley. Birdsong was one of the conference's top pitchers in 2007, as she went 20-15 with a 1.79 ERA and a league-best 275 strikeouts.

In the batter's box, Bradley is hitting .227 as a team, which ranks last in the MVC. The Braves have been outscored by opponents, 82-122, while they have just a .343 team slugging percentage and an even more paltry .288 team on-base percentage.

Bradley is led at the plate by freshman outfielder Jess Boeger and sophomore pitcher/outfielder Amanda Clack. Boeger owns a team-high .306 batting average that includes 14 runs scored, 22 hits and three home runs. Clack, meanwhile, is hitting .302 this season with 14 runs scored and 26 hits, and leads the team in both home runs (6) and slugging percentage (.593).

"Bradley has had a good pre-conference schedule; they played a tough schedule prior to moving to Valley play," said Fischer. "Bradley has quality wins over Northwestern and Oregon, as well as beating Southern Illinois earlier this season during tournament play. (Ashley) Birdsong is a very good pitcher, and the team as a whole has good speed and power throughout its lineup."

Illinois State has dominated the all-time series against Bradley, owning a 45-15 advantage in the all-time series, which dates back to 1983. In games played at Bradley's Laura Bradley Park, site of this weekend's games, the Redbirds are 17-7 and have never lost a series to the Braves on their home field.

Prior to suffering a 2-0 loss to the Braves in 2006, the Redbirds had not suffered a loss to BU in six-straight games.

Following its Valley sweep of Evansville last weekend, Illinois State made a midweek trip to play Iowa in non-conference action Wednesday. After leading early, then going down by a run, and tying the game in the top of the sixth, the Redbirds were downed by a two-out, bases-loaded RBI single by the Hawkeyes in the bottom of the seventh inning, as ISU lost, 3-2.