May 22, 2004

Final Stats

Waco, Texas - The Fighting Illini softball team advanced to the Regional Final or the Round of 16 of the NCAA Tournament with a pair of victories on Saturday in Waco, Texas. The Illini posted back-to-back shutouts of Seton Hall (2-0) and Baylor (4-0) to reach the Regional Final. Illinois will face LSU at 2 p.m. on Sunday. Illinois needs two wins over LSU to advance to the Women's College World Series next week in Oklahoma City.

"There's no real celebration yet," said Illinois Head Coach Terri Sullivan, who has her team focused for the task at hand. After falling to Baylor yesterday afternoon, Illinois needed five straight wins to head to Oklahoma City. The Illini are three-fifths of the way there.

Amanda Fortune, who has pitched all but four innings of the Illini's five games this weekend at the Regional, pitched all seven innings of both victories on Saturday, tossing a four-hit shutout of Seton Hall and a four-hit shutout of Baylor. The Bears, who came into the weekend ranked 19th in the latest NFCA poll, lost a heartbreaking game to LSU, 7-3 in 10 innings earlier in the day.

When asked if she is tired after pitching 31 innings in three days, Fortune replied, "I wish we were playing right away. To best honest I'm working on adrenaline right now."

Erin Jones had a big day at the plate, going 1-for-3 vs. Seton Hall and 3-for-4 with a run scored against Baylor. Jenna Hall's three-run home run keyed a four-run third in the victory over Baylor.

Illini catcher Janna Sartini got the scoring started in the victory over Seton Hall with a double to the gap in left center field, scoring Elene Planinsek from second in the third. Lindsay Hamma scored the second Illini run in the fourth. Hamma tripled down the right field line and scored when a pick off attempt sailed into left field.

Seton Hall had just one runner reach second base and had two base runners erased on sparkling defensive plays. Jenna Hall took a sacrifice attempt from Laura Taylor and started a 1-6-4 double play to thwart a rally in the fourth. Janna Sartini threw out Caitlin Smith, who had 16 stolen bases in 19 attempts coming into the game, trying to steal to end the third.

Fortune just got stronger as the night went on. Baylor had one major threat in the game and that came in the first inning. Chelsi Lake singled and Kelly Osburn doubled putting runners on second and third with two outs, but Fortune got the next batter, Stephanie Pomes, to ground out to Katie O'Connell at second.

Illinois (45-20-1)put the pressure on the Baylor defense and Bear starter Lisa Ferguson. Illinois sent eight batters to the plate in the fourth inning and scored four runs on four hits. Sartini led off with a single to left field and was pinch run for by Laura Zobrist. After Zobrist reached second on a passed ball, Sarah Baumgartner sacrificed her to third.

Then came the play that gave Illinois the momentum. Zobrist ran on contact on a ball off the bat of LeeAnn Butcher and slid under the tag of the Baylor catcher to make it 1-0 Illinois. The Illini players felt the momentum. The next batter, Erin Jones, turned on the first pitch and drilled a single to left putting two runners on.

Jenna Hall took center stage. The sophomore First Team All-Big Ten performer hadn't homered since April 11, but delivered a towering shot just to the right of the 220-foot sign in right center field into a stiff win of nearly 20 MPH. After the three-run home run, Hall was greeted by a celebratory set of teammates at home plate.

"I had been struggling at the plate somewhat in the tournament," Hall said. "I was just looking for an inside pitch that I could turn on and finally was able to do just that. I just wanted to stay aggressive at the plate."

Fortune allowed just two more hits the rest of the way and struck out the side in the sixth to move to 31-10 overall.

LSU enters Sunday's game ranked No. 3 in the nation. The Illini and the Tigers split a pair of games at the LSU Tiger Classic in February, a tournament in which Illinois and Oklahoma tied for the title. Oklahoma defeated top-ranked Arizona and stand just one win shy of Oklahoma City as well.

"LSU is a tremendous team and we know they will be ready to play tomorrow," Sullivan said. "We have to be at our absolute best to win. We came into the season with a goal of the World Series. It is definitely within our grasp."