Valley's Top Softball Teams Face off This Weekend

April 16, 2010

 ILLINOIS STATE (22-13, 10-2 MVC) at SOUTHERN ILLINOIS (27-13, 12-1 MVC)
 Game 1	Saturday, April. 17 at Southern Illinois (noon) | Audio | Live Stats |
 Game 2	Saturday, April. 17 at Southern Illinois (2 p.m.) | Audio | Live Stats |
 Game 3	Sunday, April 18 at Southern Illinois (noon) | Audio | Live Stats |
 Location	Carbondale, Ill. | Charlotte West Stadium
 Radio	  WJBC.com (Kyle Anderson| Play-by-Play)
 Game Notes	Illinois State Notes in PDF Format

 

NORMAL, Ill. –After dropping two games to Missouri Valley Conference rival Drake Thursday, which snapped a 10-game winning streak in Valley play, the Illinois State softball team will travel to Carbondale, Ill., to play Southern Illinois in a three-game series Saturday and Sunday. The first game Saturday is scheduled to begin at noon.

Live stats for the three-game series between Illinois State and Southern Illinois will be available on GoRedbirds.com.

The all-time series against Southern Illinois is the longest in Illinois State softball history, spanning 111 games and dating back to the 1964 season. The Redbirds lead the all-time series against the Salukis, 60-51.

Southern Illinois heads into this weekend’s three-game series at the top of the Valley standings, after Illinois State dropped two games against Drake and moved down into second place. The Salukis (27-13) lead the league with a 12-1 conference mark.

SIU is hitting .278 as a team with through 40 games. The Salukis have 281 hits and have driven in 170 runs on the year.
Southern Illinois’ leading hitter is Alicia Garza, who owns a batting average of .345 with 41 hits, which puts her in second place in the Valley behind Kara Nelson.

Nelson leads the Illinois State (22-13, 10-2 MVC) offense in several categories. Nelson has a batting average of .439, with 54 hits and 35 runs. She has also hit 14 doubles, which is eight more than any other Redbird batter.

Another strong force in the batter’s box is Abby Olson. She has driven in 41 Redbird runs on 40 hits. The junior third baseman has hit 14 home runs and six doubles.

Nelson and Olson are at the top of five offensive categories in the Valley.

The Redbirds' pitching staff owns a combined 4.24 ERA entering the three-game series. ISU is holding opposing batters to a .245 batting average and has struck out 187. Jordan Birch has 11 wins on the season, which is the most wins by an ISU pitcher.

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