Home Slate Begins This Weekend Against Indiana State

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March 28, 2014

NORMAL, Ill. - After 28 consecutive road or neutral games to start the season, the Illinois State softball team (10-18, 2-1 MVC) will play its first home games at Marian Kneer Stadium this weekend with a three-game series against Indiana State (16-12, 1-4 MVC). The series begins with a doubleheader at noon on Saturday, before concluding with a single noon game on Sunday.

Ever since Marian Kneer Stadium opened in 1999, the Redbirds have excelled in home games. ISU holds a 162-62 (.723) all-time mark at the field, including a 10-5 record in home-openers. According to head coach Melinda Fischer, that success is due to the emotions her team gets from playing in front of the home faithful.

"I think our players take pride in that being their home field," Fischer said. "They want to control their territory. For this team, with it being the first weekend at home, they are going to be so excited to not be on the road traveling and to be able to sleep in their own beds."

The Redbirds began MVC play last weekend by taking two of three from preseason unanimous favorite Northern Iowa. ISU swept Friday's doubleheader, 4-3 in nine innings and 9-4, before dropping Saturday's contest, 3-1.

Slap Hits

• All but one of ISU's 18 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 19 errors in their first 28 games, fewest in the MVC, and rank 15th nationally with a fielding percentage of .977.
• Junior Kara Repp enters the weekend leading ISU with a .290 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 25 times this year.
• Freshman catcher Jordan de los Reyes leads the MVC lead with seven home runs. She is also tied for sixth in the league with 20 RBI.
• Sophomore pitcher Regan Romshek has been ISU's workhorse in the circle this season. She has thrown 114.1 innings, second-most in the league, is tied for fifth in the Valley with eight wins, and ranks fourth with a 2.69 ERA. She has gone the distance in 10 of her last 11 starts.
• Redshirt senior third baseman Sara Bradley is the reigning MVC Player of the Week. The Mattoon, Ill., native hit .500 (7-for-14) with two home runs, five RBI, two doubles, two walks and four runs scored last week.
• The 2014 Redbird schedule features 21 games against teams that made the NCAA Tournament in 2013. ISU went 5-16 in those games thus far, including last weekend's two victories over Northern Iowa.
• 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 960 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 Sycamores (16-12 Overall, 1-4 MVC)

The Sycamores enter this weekend's series with a 16-12 overall mark and 1-4 MVC record after being swept by Wichita State last weekend.

The Indiana State offense thrives on speed, as the team ranks in the top-five nationally with 64 stolen bases in 86 attempts. Senior Morgan Allee leads the MVC with 22 steals, to go along with a .350 batting average. Four other Sycamores are hitting over .300, including Kassie Brown, who is hitting a league-best .422. As a team, the Sycamores rank second in the Valley with a .295 batting average, but last with nine home runs.

In the circle, the combination of newcomers Yvette Alvarez and Taylor Lockwood has done most of the work for INS. Alvarez, who transferred in from Pima Community College, is 9-5 with a 3.09 ERA, while Lockwood, a transfer from Butler, is 6-5 with a 3.47 ERA.

Series History

Illinois State leads the all-time series between the two squads, 74-14. The Redbirds have won four-straight meetings, and 11 of the last 12. ISU has never lost to the Sycamores at Marian Kneer Stadium, posting a perfect 21-0 mark.

Close, But No Cigar

• Of the Redbirds' 18 defeats in 2014, 10 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 18 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 five wins over postseason teams from a year ago (San Jose State, James Madison, Louisville and Northern Iowa (2x)).

Flashing the Leather

• Defense has been a strength of the ISU this season, as their 19 errors committed are fewest in the MVC. ISU also leads the league with a .977 fielding percentage, which also ranks 15th nationally.
• 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 (11-of-30) 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 28 games, ISU has swiped 29 bags, and is on base to register 55 steals. That would be the most in a single-season for the program since 1991, and third-most all-time.
• Five Redbirds have already set new or equaled personal bests for steals in a single-season, led by Kolby Hoffman (9-for-11), Nichelle Harrison (8-for-11) and Laura Canopy (7-for-8).

Just Get On

• While the Redbirds have struggled to the tune offensively of a league-low .217 batting average, they have found other ways to get on base.
• ISU's on-base percentage (.320) significantly out paces its batting average, due in large part to 86 walks and 27 hit by pitches, which rank fourth and second in the MVC, respectively.
• Senior outfielder/first baseman Laura Canopy ranks eighth in the league with a .462 OBP, first with 19 walks, and first with nine 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 110 of a possible 112 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 28 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 778 games and make 687 starts over the last three seasons. Over that time, ISU has won 111 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.
• 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 18 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 919-629-4 record during her tenure at Illinois State, making her the winningest coach in ISU Athletics and MVC softball history.
• Her 960 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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