NORMAL, Ill. – The Illinois State softball team (8-3) will wrap up its preseason tournament play this weekend, when it travels to Murfreesboro, Tennessee, for the MTSU Invitational. The Redbirds are set to face the tournament host Blue Raiders, as well as Dayton and North Dakota State at the five-game event.
LINEUP FOR ILLINOIS STATE
MTSU Invitational – Murfreesboro, Tenn.
Friday, March 12 – vs. Dayton – 10 a.m. CT
Friday, March 12 – vs. North Dakota State – 12:30 p.m. CT
Saturday, March 13 – at Middle Tennessee – 12:30 p.m. CT
Saturday, March 13 – vs. TBD – 3 p.m. / 5:30 p.m. CT
Sunday, March 14 – vs. TBD – 10 a.m. / 12:30 p.m. CT
Live stats will be available for all games, while a video stream of the Redbirds' game(s) against Middle Tennessee will be available via CUSA.tv. Links can be found on ISU's schedule page.
STRONG START
Heading into the final weekend of preseason tournament play, the Redbirds are off to their best start since 2007, sitting at 8-3 overall. The Redbirds' three losses have come against nationally-ranked teams – Clemson, Tennessee and Kentucky. Illinois State has been shut out just twice this season and are riding a five-game win streak heading into the MTSU Invitational.
ISN'T IT GRAND?
With Jayden Standish at the plate and the bases loaded, the rookie delivered her first collegiate hit, blasting a home run over the left center field wall to help the Redbirds take a six-run lead in a 12-5 victory for Illinois State over Coastal Carolina on March 7. Standish's base-clearing slam was the first for a Redbird since Allison Spence hit one in a run-rule win over Evansville in 2019.
MACK ATTACK
Mack Leonard boasted a .520 batting average, going 13-for-26 from the dish, as the Redbirds went 5-1 at the FAU Parents' Weekend Tournament this past weekend. Her most impressive performance at the plate was a 4-for-5 outing in a 9-5 win over Pitt, as the junior utility player scored a pair of runs and added two more RBIs to her weekend stat line. After tossing a strikeout in the top of the seventh against FIU on Friday, Leonard lifted a two-out home run to walk it off for the Redbirds, 3-2, in the final frame while grabbing a win in the circle.
Leonard finished the six-game tournament with a pair of doubles, a triple, a home run and 11 RBIs, including the game-winning RBI single on Sunday in extra innings against FAU. She also turned in an .800 slugging percentage and a perfect 1.000 fielding percentage. For her performance, she was named the Missouri Valley Conference Pitcher of the Week on March 9.
For updates on Illinois State Softball, follow the Redbirds on Twitter (@RedbirdsSB) and Instagram (@redbirdsoftball). Game dates, times, opponents and locations are all subject to change.
GoRedbirds.com and the Illinois State Redbirds App: Your sources for Illinois State tickets, Weisbecker Scholarship Fund gifts, multimedia, Redbird merchandise, photos and more.
