NORMAL, Ill. – The No. 6 seed Illinois State Redbirds will open the 2019 Missouri Valley Conference Softball Championship on Thursday versus No. 10 Valparaiso on Petersen Hotels Field at the Louisville Slugger Sports Complex in Peoria, Illinois. First pitch between the Redbirds and the Crusaders is set for 1:30 p.m.
REDBIRDS VS. THE FIELD
Illinois State is 58-50 overall at the MVC Tournament and 18-19 versus its side of the bracket. Thursday's match-up with Valpo will be the first meeting between the two programs in the postseason. The Redbirds hold a 6-7 record in the postseason against No. 3-seeded UNI and a 9-7 mark versus No. 2-seeded Southern Illinois, a pair of teams ISU faced in last season's single-elimination tournament.
Illinois State used collective pitching efforts from Morgan Day and Ali Domkuski in the Redbirds' championship-opening contest against UNI in 2018, fighting off the Panthers 4-3 in 10 innings, before falling to the Salukis, 2-0, the next day.
LAST TIME OUT
The Redbirds capped the 2019 regular season with a three-game sweep of Valparaiso to close conference play with an 11-10 record, making it the eighth time in the last 10 seasons that ISU has finished above .500. Morgan Day was the lone pitcher in the league to deliver two complete game shutouts, pitching the first and the third game of the series for ISU. The sophomore battled to a pair of 1-0 wins against the Crusaders, posting a 0.00 ERA with 18 strikeouts in 14.0 innings of work. With her 11-strikeout performance in the regular-season finale, Day became the first Redbird to hurl at least 10 strikeouts in a single game, since Regan Romshek did so in 2015.
CHAMPIONSHIP CENTRAL
For more information on the postseason tournament, please visit the league's championship central page.
For updates on Illinois State Softball, follow the Redbirds on Twitter (@RedbirdsSB) and Instagram (@redbirdsoftball).
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