Sept. 27, 2010
NORMAL, Ill. -
The Illinois State softball team earned shutout wins in both games of a doubleheader against Wisconsin at Goodman Diamond in Madison, Wis., Sunday afternoon. The Redbirds topped the Badgers, 1-0, in the opener before taking the nightcap, 4-0.
"Playing Wisconsin was a great opportunity for us to play against an opponent than ourselves and outside of the scrimmage atmosphere," head coach Melinda Fischer said. "They were two very exciting games with the first game going down to the wire. In the first game, I felt we had some opportunities and they were able to contain us and when they had some opportunities we were able to contain them and we finally pushed a run across and held them."
Junior Jordan Birch and freshman Taylor Baxter combined for the shutout in the opener for ISU. Birch tossed four innings without allowing a hit while striking out four Wisconsin hitters. Baxter completed the shutout by striking out four and allowing only three hits in the final three innings.
Senior Kara Nelson and freshman Nichelle Harrison led Illinois State offensively as both players finished with a pair of hits in three plate appearances. The duo combined for four of the Redbirds' seven hits and Harrison scored the lone run of the contest for ISU.
"In the second game, I felt we got our bats going a little bit better in terms of production and took advantage of a couple of their miscues," Fischer said. "We really saw some great things from a lot of different people."
Illinois State used eight hits and two Badger errors to come away with the 4-0 victory in the second game. Junior Lizzie Andrews finished 2-for-3 at the plate with an RBI and a run scored, while sophomore Jhavon Hamilton added a pair of hits and an RBI. Freshman Kolby Hoffman finished 2-for-3 with a run scored.
In the circle, junior Megan Warner tossed five hitless innings and struck out four to earn the win. Senior Chrissy Burton came on in relief and preserved the shutout, retiring the last six hitters and allowing just one hit.
"Pitching-wise, both Jordan and Megan had no-hitters until the time that they were taken out of the game," Fischer said. "I think that is really exciting to see from the two pitchers that did most of our pitching last year. I felt Taylor did a nice job in relief. That is a probably role that she is not used to fulfilling at this point. Typically, a pitcher coming into our program has been a starting pitcher and has done a lot of pitching for a lot of different teams, so I feel this is something that all pitchers have to get adjusted to at the collegiate level. I also thought Chrissy did a nice job in the two innings that she pitched. Chrissy wasn't feeling great so I limited her to just the two innings, but I thought she did a great job in those two innings.
"We also made some very fine defensive plays," Fischer added. "Abby Olson grabbed a line drive that probably saved a run in the second game, we turned a doubleplay on a great stop by Kolby up the middle, and Lizzie made a great throw to nail a runner at the plate that would have tied the game in the opener. There were some outstanding defensive plays from both teams and I felt it was a great opportunity to see a lot of what we have been trying to work on in practice."
Illinois State will continue its fall season this weekend, Oct. 2-3, when it co-hosts the State Farm Illinois Collegiate Softball Championship at Champion Fields in Normal, Ill.
GoRedbirds.com: Your online source for Illinois State Athletics, tickets, TRC gifts, multimedia, Redbird merchandise, photos and more.
