Feb. 17, 2011
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TEMPE, Ariz. - After an impressive 4-1 start to the 2011 season, the Illinois State softball team will be looking to continue its success this weekend at the Littlewood Classic in Tempe, Ariz. The Redbirds are scheduled to play five games during the three-day event, including a Friday night contest with nationally-ranked Arizona State.
ISU will open the Littlewood Classic Friday at 3:30 p.m. with a matchup against Idaho State, before concluding the opening day of the tournament with a contest against No. 9/12 Arizona State. On Saturday, the Redbirds will face Seattle and Iowa, before wrapping up the weekend with a second contest against Idaho State Sunday morning.
"I feel that our team is very confident right now and that they are confident that they can move another step up and take it to another level if they do what they are capable of in this tournament," head coach Melinda Fischer said. "In order to do that, they have to take each team and each game one at a time. We have some unknowns in Idaho State and Seattle, but we are very familiar with Iowa and Arizona. It will be a great weekend to see if we can rise to the occasion and to see if we can do some of the same things that we did well, as well as improve upon the weaknesses we saw last weekend."
Senior Kara Nelson leads the Illinois State offense with a .563 batting average and was named Missouri Valley Conference Player of the Week for her performance in Athens, Ga., last weekend. Nelson scored eight runs and recorded four extra-base hits in ISU's first five games.
Junior hurler Megan Warner boasts a perfect 0.00 earned run average and earned two shutout victories against East Carolina and Lipscomb at the Red and Black Showcase. Warner struck out a career-high 15 in the win over ECU and leads the MVC with 23 strikeouts. Freshman Taylor Baxter earned a shutout victory in her collegiate debut, scattering seven hits and striking out two in a 5-0 victory over Maryland.
Last weekend at the Red and Black Showcase in Athens, Ga., ISU outscored its opponents 29-6 and recorded three shutout victories over teams receiving votes in last week's national polls. The only loss for Illinois State was a narrow 2-1 defeat to No. 2/4 Georgia.
"Last weekend was a great start and it was very exciting to see a team that we felt could handle this type of competition rise to the challenge and compete the entire game for five games," Fischer said. "We got great consistency from every aspect of the game last weekend."
Friday's meeting with Idaho State will mark the third in series history between the Redbirds and Bengals, with both teams earning a victory in the previous two games. Idaho State won the latest meeting, 10-5, in 2009. The Bengals are looking to improve on last season's 14-39 record and are under the direction of first-year head coach Julie Wright, who spent the previous four seasons at Wisconsin, including two as the associate head coach.
Illinois State will take on No. 9/12 Arizona State for the 29th time in program history in Friday's nightcap. The Sun Devils hold a 26-2 advantage in the all-time series, but it was ISU that earned a 10-9 come-from-behind win over ASU last year. The Redbirds trailed 7-0 after four innings, but used a five-run seventh to force extra innings and eventually earned the win in nine. Arizona State enters the weekend with a 5-1 record and freshman pitcher Dallas Escobedo earned USA Softball National Player of the Week honors after going 4-0 with wins over nationally-ranked Oklahoma and Oklahoma State last weekend.
On Saturday, ISU will take on Seattle for the first time in program history. The Redhawks are in their third year as a Division I program after making the jump from Division II in 2009. Seattle went 0-5 last weekend in Santa Barbara, Calif., with a pair of losses to Missouri Valley Conference member Wichita State.
Iowa and Illinois State will meet for the 52nd time in series history Saturday at 3:30 p.m. CST. The Redbirds trail, 33-18, in the all-time series, but won the last meeting, 13-4, last weekend in Athens, Ga., at the Red and Black Showcase, dropping the Hawkeyes to 1-4 on the season.
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