April 21, 2009
Backed by the reigning State Farm Missouri Valley Conference Player of the Week, Abby Olson, the Illinois State softball team will travel to Terre Haute, Ind., Wednesday in search of a sweep in the season series against Indiana State. The Redbirds and Sycamores will square off at 3 p.m. CDT, after ISU won the first two games in the series earlier this season, 5-0 and 3-1.
Live statistics and a live radio broadcast for the game can be found on GoRedbirds.com.
Indiana State is looking to use the momentum it gained from a 2-1 series win over Northern Iowa last weekend. In that series, sophomore Stephanie Jonson led the Sycamore offene with a .400 batting average after she hit her first-career home run. The Sycamores (13-22, 5-11 MVC) sit in ninth place in the Missouri Valley Conference standings, two-and-a-half games behind eighth-place Wichita State. Indiana State is 5-5 over it last 10 games.
Hitting .256 on the season as a team - the fifth-best average in The Valley - Indiana State is led at the plate by Katie Armour's .409 batting average. Armour also leads the team in hits (45), RBI (30) and on-base percentage (.447), while she is second in slugging percentage (.527).
In the circle, Darcy Wood is the Sycamores' top pitcher with a 7-12 record and a 2.69 ERA. Wood leads a pitching staff that owns a 2.97 ERA, the third-worst in the conference.
Illinois State (20-21, 8-8 MVC) enters Wednesday's game with its own winning momentum following a 2-1 series victory last weekend at Wichita State. Illinois State's bats came alive in that series, as the Redbirds had two 10-plus-hit games, while combining for 10 extra-base hits.
Olson secured her MVC Player of the Week honor after she hit .455 (5-for-11) against Wichita State with two runs scored, two doubles, three RBI and a .909 slugging percentage. The Hartsburg, Ill., native delivered her biggest hit of the week in the series finale Sunday. With the game tied, 5-5, in the top of the eighth inning and two runners on base, Olson hit the game-winning three-run home run to clinch the series win for Illinois State and give the Redbirds their first extra-inning victory of the season in five tries.
Following its two previous wins this season over the Sycamores, Illinois State leads the all-time series, 64-11.
GoRedbirds.com: Your online source for Illinois State Athletics, tickets, TRC gifts, multimedia, Redbird merchandise, photos and more.
