MVC Play Begins Friday Against UNI in Carbondale

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March 20, 2014

NORMAL, Ill. - The Illinois State softball team (8-17, 0-0 MVC) will begin the quest for its 13th Missouri Valley Conference title when it opens conference play with a three-game series against unanimous preseason favorite Northern Iowa (14-6, 2-0 MVC), Friday and Saturday in Carbondale, Ill.

Due to unplayable field conditions at UNI's Robinson-Dresser Field, the series was moved to Southern Illinois' Charlotte West Stadium. The Redbirds and Panthers will square off in a doubleheader, Friday, beginning at 1:30 p.m., CST, before playing an 11 a.m., game, Saturday to conclude the series.

Slap Hits

• All but one of ISU's 17 losses this season have come to teams that were either ranked in the top-25 or made the NCAA Tournament in 2013, including six against top 10 teams and five versus 2013 Women's College World Series participants.
• The Redbirds have committed just 17 errors in their first 25 games, fewest in the Missouri Valley Conference, and own the league's best fielding percentage at .976.
• Senior Kolby Hoffman, who entered 2014 as a career .173 hitter, is second on the team with a .265 batting average. She enters the weekend with two home runs, which matches her career-high, and eight RBI, which are more than half of what she had last year in 43 games (15).
• Junior Kara Repp enters the weekend leading ISU with a .275 batting average. Repp, who moved from infield to outfield prior to the season, entered the season with a .184 career batting average and with only 19 career starts. She has started 22 times this year.
• Freshman catcher Jordan de los Reyes is tied for the MVC lead with six home runs. She also ranks fifth in the league with 19 RBI.
• Sophomore pitcher Regan Romshek has been ISU's workhorse in the circle this season. She has thrown 96.2 innings, second-most in the league, and is tied for fifth in the Valley with seven wins. She has tossed a complete game in nine-straight starts.
• The 2014 Redbird schedule features 21 games against teams that made the NCAA Tournament in 2013. ISU has gone 3-15 in those games thus far, with the final three coming this weekend against the Panthers.
• Now in her 29th season at the helm of ISU, and 31st overall, head coach Melinda Fischer ranks 18th all-time among DI coaches with 958 wins.
• ISU has been to the NCAA Tournament in three of the last four seasons and nine times overall. The Redbirds have also won 12 regular-season conference titles and six tournament crowns.

Scouting the Panthers (14-6 Overall, 2-0 MVC)

UNI was the unanimous preseason favorite in the Missouri Valley Conference after winning the 2013 MVC Tournament, and are atop the league standings through one conference weekend with a 2-0 mark. Overall, the Panthers have won three-straight games, and seven of their last eight.

Leading the way offensively for UNI has been junior Rikki Alcaraz, who transferred in from LSU prior to the 2014 campaign. Alcaraz enters the weekend with a .359/.425/.541 slash line, all team-bests, to go along with two home runs and 11 RBI. Julia Hunter (4 HR, 14 RBI), Kristin Lock (5 HR, 11 RBI) and Chelsea Ross (5 HR, 13 RBI) have provided pop.

Last year, three-time All-MVC First Team choice Jamie Fisher started 38 of UNI's 53 games. The Panthers have featured more balance this season, as the addition of Ross, a transfer from Oklahoma State, has lightened Fisher's load. Fisher is 8-4 with a 2.27 ERA in 16 appearances (11 starts), while Ross is 6-2 with a 4.28 ERA in 10 appearances (nine starts).

Series History

Illinois State leads the all-time series between the two squads, 64-18-1. The two teams have split the last six meetings, with the Redbirds winning the five meetings prior to that, dating back to 2010. The Redbirds took two of three games from the Panthers last season in Normal, April 27-28. ISU swept the Saturday doubleheader, by scores of 4-1 and 1-0, before UNI bounced back with a 9-3 victory on Sunday.

Close, But No Cigar

• Of the Redbirds' 17 defeats in 2014, nine have been by two runs or less. ISU has also held leads in six of those games, including twice in the seventh inning, only to see them evaporate.
• All but one of ISU's 17 losses this season have come against teams that were either ranked in the top 25 or made the 2013 NCAA Tournament.
• Against teams not ranked or coming off a NCAA Tournament appearance, the Redbirds are 5-1. They have also notched three wins over postseason teams from a year ago (San Jose State, James Madison and Louisville).

Flashing the Leather

• Defense has been a strength of the Redbirds this season, as their 17 errors committed are fewest in the Missouri Valley Conference. ISU also leads the league with a .976 fielding percentage.
• The Redbirds have committed more than one error just four times, and have never been charged with more than two in a game.
• ISU has been stout defensively from behind the plate, as well. Catchers Stephanie Gallant and Jordan de los Reyes have combined to throw out 37-percent (9-of-27) of attempted base stealers.

On the Move

• Not normally known as a team that steals a lot of bases, the Redbirds have been more active on the base paths this season.
• Through 25 games, ISU has swiped 23 bags, and is on base to register 50 steals. That would be the most in a single-season for the program since 1991, and third-most all-time.
• Four Redbirds have already set new or equaled personal bests for steals in a single-season, led by Kolby Hoffman (9-for-10) and Nichelle Harrison (5-for-8).

Just Get On

• While the Redbirds have struggled to the tune offensively of a league-low .210 batting average, they have found other ways to get on base.
• ISU's on-base percentage (.315) significantly out paces its batting average, due in large part to 83 walks and 21 hit by pitches, which rank fourth and third in the MVC, respectively.
• Senior outfielder/first baseman Laura Canopy ranks ninth in the league with a .451 OBP, first with 19 walks, and is tied for second with six hit by pitches.

Experience In, Youth Out

• All six players that have seen action in the infield for Illinois State this season are upperclassmen, compared to four of seven Redbirds that have appeared in the outfield being juniors or seniors.
• All four infield starters - Laura Canopy, Kolby Hoffman, Brittny Drish and Sara Bradley - returned from the 2013 squad. That quartet combined to start 174 games last season, and has made 109 of a possible 111 appearances this year.
• Conversely, ISU's outfield entered 2014 with little experience. Only Nichelle Harrison returned as starter, while the other outfielders on the roster entered with a combined 53 career appearances.
• Through 25 games, the Redbirds have utilized eight different starting outfield combinations, while a total of seven players have seen action in the outfield.

Senior Laden

• The 2014 Redbird roster features five seniors - Taylor Baxter, Sara Bradley, Laura Canopy, Nichelle Harrison and Kolby Hoffman - which marks the most seniors on a squad since the 2005 Redbirds had six.
• The group has combined to appear in 755 games and make 665 starts over the last three seasons. Over that time, ISU has won 109 games, made two NCAA Tournament appearances and won both a MVC regular-season and tournament title.

New Power Sources

• Entering the 2014 season, lack of power projected to be a potential issue for ISU, as the Redbirds graduated players who hit 48.6-percent of its home runs last season.Â
• The main source of returning power was senior Laura Canopy, who tied for the team-lead with 10 long balls last season and ranks 14th in program-history with 17 in her career. No other Redbird on the roster, however, entered the season with more than seven career home runs.
• ISU has still been able to hit 15 home runs, though, thanks to unexpected contributors. Canopy has hit just one homer, while the others have been hit by five different players who combined to hit five homers last year.

The Legend Continues

• Head coach Melinda Fischer is in her 29th season at the helm of the ISU softball program, and 31st as a head coach.
• Fischer has posted a 917-628-4 record during her tenure at Illinois State, making her the winningest coach in ISU Athletics and MVC softball history.
• Her 958 career wins overall rank her 18th all-time nationally among DI coaches, and 11th among active coaches.
• Fischer also played softball at ISU, and helped lead the Redbirds to a second-place finish at the AIAW Women's College World Series in 1969.

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