April 8, 2008
Riding a season-long five-game winning streak, the Illinois State softball team will take a short break from Missouri Valley Conference action Wednesday when it travels to Iowa City, Iowa, to take on the University of Iowa in a 4 p.m. non-conference game at Pearl Field.
Wednesday's game mark the first time the Illinois State has played at Iowa's Pearl field since the Redbirds ended the Hawkeyes' 2006 season on their home field with a 3-2 victory at the Iowa City Regional that year. The win extended the Redbirds' season for another game, and it marked Illinois State's first victory in the NCAA Tournament since a 1-0 win over No. 22 South Carolina in 2001.
Illinois State head coach Melinda Fischer does not feel that the Redbirds' previous history with the Hawkeyes will play a role in Wednesday's game.
"I don't think our win over Iowa at the NCAA Regional in 2006 will have an effect on (Wednesday's) game," said Fischer. "We are going to focus on improving on what we did against Iowa at the Littlewood Classic (lost, 2-0) earlier this season. We need to solidify our defense from this past weekend in order to compete well (Wednesday)."
The Redbirds come into Wednesday afternoon's game fresh off of a three-game Valley sweep of Evansville last weekend that brought their season record to 16-14 overall, 6-4 Missouri Valley Conference. The Hawkeyes (25-12, 4-2 Big Ten Conference) meanwhile picked up a pair of wins last weekend over Penn State and are coming off of a stunning 2-1 victory over Michigan April 2.
Illinois State trails the all-time series to Iowa, 16-30, which includes just a 4-14 record against the Hawkeyes on the road. At Iowa's Pearl Field, the Redbirds have won just three games in eight tries, while the Hawkeyes have dominated the series this decade to the tune of a 14-7 advantage over the Redbirds since 2000.
The series is one of just eight series of at least 10 games in Redbird softball history that Illinois State does not lead.
The Redbirds and Hawkeyes have already played this season, as Iowa shut down the Redbird offense via a 2-0 shutout Feb. 23 at the Littlewood Classic in Tempe, Ariz. The Hawkeyes' Brittany Weil and Amanda Zust combined to allow just five Illinois State batters to reach base in the game, as ISU strung together only three hits and two walks in the loss.
Weil's 1.15 ERA and 15-9 record this season leads an Iowa pitching staff that has combined for a 1.19 team ERA with just 43 earned runs allowed this season.
The Hawkeyes are led at the plate by a pair of .300 hitters, as Colleen McGlaughlin owns a team-best .363 batting average among Iowa players with at least 70 at-bats, while Chelsey Carmody is not far behind at .316. The duo has recorded 37 hits apiece, while McGlaughlin's 21 RBI on the season has accounted for 21 percent of Iowa's 102 RBI in 2008.
"Iowa is the kind of team that we want to play during our midweek games," said Fischer. "I respect their program tremendously. Iowa has good speed and great bat control, as well as power at the plate and great pitching."
Fans can listen to the game live on KXIC.com or go to Hawkeyesports.com and access the radio feed via the "Listen Live" link on the Iowa softball schedule page or by accessing the radio link in the table above. The radio feed is free; however, fans must register in order to access the feed.
