NORMAL, Ill. – After playing their first 27 games of the season on the road, the Illinois State softball team will finally host its first home contests of the year when they welcome in league-leading Belmont for a three-game Missouri Valley Conference series at Marian Kneer Stadium.
Due to expected inclement weather in the area on Sunday, the two teams will play a doubleheader on Friday beginning at 1 p.m., with the second game starting approximately 35 minutes after the completion of the first contest. The third and final game of the series will take place on Saturday at 2 p.m.
Live stats for each game will be available via StatBroadcast and links can be found on the softball schedule page on GoRedbirds.com. All three games will be streamed live on ESPN+.
THE SERIES
Illinois State leads the all-time series between the two programs, 5-1. The two teams last met during the 2023 season, when they split a pair of games in Nashville before the third game of the series was cancelled. ISU and Belmont did not face off in 2024.
SCOUTING THE BRUINS
• Belmont (21-7, 5-0 MVC) sits atop the MVC standings after week one of Valley play and enter week two with the longest winning streak of any team in the league at 10 in a row.
• Belmont comes in at No. 10 on the D1Softball Mid-Major Top 25 Poll and at No. 39 in the recent NCAA RPI standings.
• The Bruins are coming off an 8-0 (6 inn.) win on Tuesday over Murray State in midweek conference action. Maya Johnson recorded 12 strikeouts while only allowing one hit to the Racers, while Emily Cockrill recorded her first home run of the season.
• Johnson is first in the NCAA for strikeouts (168) and strikeout-to-walk ratio (33.60). The pitcher also ranks third in the NCAA for ERA (.72). Johnson leads the MVC in ERA, opposing batting average (0.106), strikeouts, wins (12), and batters struck out looking (27).
• Nicole Hughes leads the Belmont offense with a .386 batting average, after compiling 13 runs, 32 hits, 25 RBI, eight doubles and one home run this season. The Bruins have five players batting above .300, including Hughes (.386), Cockrill (.358), Baie Ensio (.353), Rylee Spindler (.338) and Emma Barnes (.302).
REDBIRD NEWS & NOTES
• Illinois State (6-21, 0-3 MVC) is looking to snap a seven-game losing streak and dropped all three games last weekend to Southern Illinois in its opening MVC series in Carbondale.
• The Redbirds are one of the better defensive teams in the league, boasting a .966 fielding percentage which ranks second overall. The Redbirds have committed the second-fewest error in the MVC (26) and rank second in the Valley in double plays turned (13).
• Abby Knight leads Illinois State with a .301 batting average and ranks sixth in the MVC in doubles (7) and at-bats (83). Addison Masching has recorded a team-leading 10 RBI this season and is the only player on the Redbird roster with a four-hit game and a four RBI game.
• Hannah Meshnick leads the Redbird pitching staff with a 3.38 ERA in the circle, after totaling 34 strikeouts this season.
• Illinois State features four standouts selected for the 2025 All-MVC preseason team in seniors Delainey Bryant and Bella Wilkerson and sophomores Paige McLeod and Hopkins. The four selections led all MVC programs.
For updates on Illinois State Softball, follow the Redbirds on Twitter (@RedbirdsSB), Instagram (@redbirdsoftball), and Facebook (Illinois State Redbird Softball).
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