Big Ten Tournament postponed
May 14, 2004 | Softball
Upsets and rain are the stories at the Big Ten Softball Tournament this weekend. Of the top four seeds, only second-seeded Illinois has made it through to the semifinals. Top seeded Michigan and No. 3 Iowa were upset in the quarterfinal round while No. 4 Northwestern is trailing in the seventh and final inning.
Several rain delays and finally a nighttime downpour caused tournament officials to postpone the remainder of the tournament until Saturday. The day began with No. 6 seed Ohio State blasting No. 3 Iowa, 5-1. That moved the Buckeyes into the semifinals to meet Illinois. No. 5 Minnesota leads No. 4 Northwestern 2-0 in the bottom of the seventh. The two semifinals were originally scheduled for Friday night.
The new schedule calls for the completion of the Northwestern-Minnesota game for 8 a.m. CST Saturday. Twenty minutes later Illinois, a 1-0 winner over No. 7 Penn State on Thursday, plays Ohio State in the first semifinal. Thirty minutes after that No. 8 Michigan State, who upset top seeded Michigan, 5-1, plays the winner of the Northwestern-Minnesota game.
The championship game will be at 1:30 p.m. and broadcast live on CSTV (Direct TV Channel 610) with Beth Mowens and Anne Schatz providing the broadcast. Illinois games can be heard live on WDWS AM-1400 and fightingillini.com with Steve Layman and Mike Koon providing the action.
