NORMAL, Ill. – The Illinois State softball team will compete in its final nonconference tournament of 2019 this weekend, when it heads to south Florida for a six-game set at the FAU/FIU Parent's Weekend Tournament.
The Redbirds will open the event with a doubleheader on Friday versus North Dakota State and Purdue in Miami, Florida, beginning at 10 a.m. CT. Illinois State will spend the final two days of the tournament in Boca Raton, Florida, with a twin bill scheduled at 8 a.m. CT against LIU Brooklyn and Notre Dame on Saturday. A pair of contests against Florida Atlantic (2:45 p.m. CT) and Purdue (7:15 p.m. CT) await the Redbirds to conclude tournament action on Sunday.
REDBIRDS VS. THE FIELD
The Redbirds and Bison will meet for the first time in program history to open the FAU/FIU Parent's Weekend Tournament. Illinois State has a minimal series history with all five teams it will be facing this weekend, holding the slim 11-10 series advantage over the combined opponents. The Redbirds have competed against Notre Dame the most, as the Irish have won six out of seven meetings with ISU.
Illinois State holds the series edge over Purdue and LIU Brooklyn at 4-0 and 4-2, respectively, while the Redbirds and Owls from Florida Atlantic have each taken two games apiece.
SETTING THE STAGE
Illinois State pulled off its first upset of a top-25 team since the 2017 season on Saturday afternoon, blanking nationally-ranked Indiana to hand the Hoosiers just their second loss of the season. Morgan Day commanded the circle, fanning a season-high seven batters to give the Redbirds the 3-0 shut-out victory. Offensively, ISU was led at the plate by Shannon Felde, Andrea Coursey and Alyssa Wiebel.
Additionally, ISU's win over Indiana marked the fourth victory over a ranked opponent by a Missouri Valley Conference team this season and the first shutout of a top-25 team by a Valley program.
Day was named the league's Pitcher of the Week on Monday, after recording 18 strikeouts – half of her season total of 36 – in 21.1 innings of work for an impressive 0.66 ERA, as the sophomore went 2-1 at LSU's Purple & Gold Challenge this past weekend.
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