March 29, 2006
Urbana, Ill. -
Complete Game Notes in PDF Format
Download Free Acrobat Reader
Illinois (13-15) vs. Iowa (17-12)
When: Friday, March 31, 6 p.m.;
Saturday, April 1, Noon
Where: Eichelberger Field, Urbana, Ill.
Series: Iowa leads 7-6
Illinois (13-15) vs. Wisconsin (11-10)
When: Sunday, April 2, Noon
Where: Eichelberger Field, Urbana, Ill.
Series: Illinois leads 10-3
What's at stake: Illinois opens the Big Ten home and Big Ten season vs. the Hawkeyes. The top eight teams make the Big Ten Tournament in a single-elimination format at the end of the season. The Illini missed the tourney for the first time in school history last year.
Illini in home openers: The Illini are 10-0 in previous opening days with doubleheader sweeps over Valparaiso (2001), Eastern Illinois (2002), Bradley (2003), Illinois State (2004), and Loyola (2005). This is the first time that the home opener has also been the Big Ten opener.
Illini in Big Ten openers: Illinois is 3-2 in Big Ten openers, with the most significant game being a 4-0 victory at No. 14 Michigan. That win gave Illinois a victory over every Big Ten team in school history.
No Repeat of 2005: The Illini finished 10th in the Big Ten a year ago with a 4-14 record. Illinois started the conference season 0-11. The Illini are hoping not to repeat those fortunes.
Gaining momentum: The good news is Illinois ended the season with an 8-7 victory over the No. 18 Hawkeyes. Jenna Hall's grand slam keyed the victory.
This is our house: This is the fourth trip for Iowa to Eichelberger Field and two of the three previous trips have resulted in Illini sweeps. In 2001, a team of 18 freshman, including pitchers Kathryn Nevard and Amanda Fortune limited the No. 12 Hawkeyes to 10 hits in two games as Illinois won 1-0 and 3-0. As seniors, the Illini pulled off two of the biggest wins in school history. Needing two victories to tie Iowa for second in the conference and gain the No. 2 seed in the conference tournament, the Illini did just that, winning 2-0 and 5-2.
We meet again: Illinois has faced Wisconsin more than any other team in school history, with a commanding 10-3 advantage. Like Iowa, the Illini are 4-2 vs. the Badgers in Urbana, with both Badger wins coming last season, 7-3 and 3-1.
Scouting Iowa: Iowa spent the first three weeks of the season in the top 25, reaching as high as 19th in the rankings. At 17-12, The Hawkeyes are two away from the number of losses all of last season (14). Illinois and Iowa had three common opponents. The Illini defeated Long Island, 11-8 and the Hawkeyes fell 7-1. The Illini have lost to California twice (6-4 and 5-0) while Iowa lost to the Bears 1-0. Iowa downed Loyola, 5-0, at the Hawkeye Classic while the Illini swept the Ramblers in Chicago, 12-2 (5) and 3-2.
Scouting Wisconsin: The Badgers are 11-10 and winners of five straight, after going 4-0 at the Capital Classic in Sacramento.
The latest: Illinois went 2-3 at the Stanford Invitational last weekend, then swept Loyola, 12-2 and 3-2 on Tuesday night in Chicago.
Reversal of fortunes: Illinois entered play last weekend first in the Big Ten in hitting (.304) and at the bottom of the league in pitching. Illinois had its best pitching (3.61) and fielding (.981) weekend of the year, while only batting .233.
Iron horse: Illinois pitcher Claire DeVreese has appeared in every one of the Illini's games this season. Her numbers are steadily improving. In her last 10 appearances, five of them starts, DeVreese has a 2.77 ERA, seeing her ERA drop from 6.68 to 4.88. In addition DeVreese has given up just three home runs compared to 14 in her first 18 games.
Hall recovering from knee injury: Jenna Hall banged her knee into the wall going after a foul ball during Friday's game with Princeton Friday in Palo Alto. She played the next game vs. Santa Clara that day, but sat out Saturday's action vs. Stanford and UC-Davis. Hall has played the last three games at designated player. She still has stiffness in her knee, but is gradually gaining mobility.
Gibsonesque moment: Hall had a moment that, although not as dramatic, resembled that of Kirk Gibson's home run during the 1988 World Series. Not being able to get around the bases real fast, Hall smacked a home run over the right-center field fence vs. Princeton and made the slow trot around the bases. The home run gave the Illini a 3-2 lead. The Tigers rebounded for a 4-3 victory, however.
De-fense, Defense: The Illini fielding has been outstanding of late. Illinois has not committed an error in three straight games and has a .981 percentage in its last 11 outings. In the process they have raised their season fielding percentage from .957 to .966.
• Molly Lawhead has thrown two players out trying to score and one vs. Loyola trying to stretch a single into a double.
• Angelena Mexicano has made some remarkable plays at shortstop, showing great range and turing a diving catch into a double play in game two of the twinbill vs. Loyola.
• Rachelle Coriddi has covered a lot of ground in center field, accounting for the final two outs of the game vs. Loyola on a snare of a line drive and a bullet of a throw to first to double up the runner.
Pulling rank: The Illini have two wins over ranked teams this season, defeating No. 10 Baylor 12-6 in Waco during the first week of the year, then downing No. 23 Virginia Tech on March 10 in Clearwater, Fla. The Illini have had at least three wins against ranked opponents each year with scholarship players -- five in 2001, three in 2002, three in 2003, six in 2004, and three in 2005. Four of their remaining opponents are ranked -- No. 13 Michigan, No. 15 Northwestern, No. 23 DePaul & No. 25 Southern Illinois.
IN THE HALL WITH THE ALUMINUM PIPE
Jenna Hall has been on a tremendous roll this season. Here are some her significant accomplishments:
• Earned Big Ten Player of the Week Hall, after having had one of the best offensive weekends in Illinois softball history. The senior first baseman hit four home runs at the USF/Adidas Tournament in Clearwater, Fla., including one that helped the Illini upset No. 23 Virginia Tech (5-4). In that game Hall was 3-for-3 with a home run, a walk, two RBI, and a run scored. Hall had four home runs and seven RBI for a 1.263 slugging percentage for the week. She hit two home runs vs. Central Michigan, just the third time in Illini history that a player had a multi-home run game. Hall also had two long balls vs. Texas A&M on Feb. 20, 2004.
• Hall has a significant lead in the Big Ten in both batting average (.487) and slugging percentage (.947), out-distancing her competitors by over 60 points in average and by nearly 300 points in slugging percentage.
• Hall also leads the Big Ten in on-base percentage (.567), home runs (9), total bases (72), and walks (18) while ranking second in RBI (28), third in hits (37).
GOOD GOLLY MISS MOLLY
Molly Lawhead from nearby Monticello has continued as one of the most competitive players on team. For the season, Lawhead is batting .308 with four home runs, three doubles and 13 RBI. Defensively, she has thrown two runners out trying to score and has five total assists from the outfield.
• Lawhead represented Illinois on the Capital Classic all-tournament team after going 7-for-12 (.583) with four runs scored and two RBI during the tourney
CORIDDI ON TORRID STREAK
Rachelle Coriddi has been the ideal lead-off hitter so far this season.
• A speed demon on the base paths so far this year, Coriddi has 19 stolen bases in 20 attempts. Coriddi, already Illinois' stolen base leader now has 83 for her career, but her pace is far ahead of any of her previous two seasons. She had 23 steals as a freshman, 19 as a sophomore and 22 all of last year.
• The stolen base leader in Division I was Sharonda McDonald with 48 steals in 51 games for 0.94 per game.
• Coriddi has a .469 batting average. When she gets on base, more times than not she scores with 38 hits and six walks and 28 runs scored
FRIENDLY RIVALRY
• Last year Shanna Diller and Jenna Hall went down to the final weekend to determine the team lead in RBI each with a shot at the school record. Hall set the school record with 43 runs driven in last season despite the Illini playing only 50 games. She did so on the final weekend of the season with two home runs, including a grand slam at Iowa. Diller set freshman records for home runs (7) and RBI (39).
• This year the duo sits second and third in the Big Ten with 28 and 26 apiece.
MURDERERS ROW
The top six batters in the order for Illinois have been as good as anyone so far in 2006. Five of the six batters are batting .300 or better and a reason why the Illini are ranked high in the power categories in the Big Ten.
• The top six batters in the order are batting a combined .439 with 111 runs scored, 33 doubles, 22 home runs and 116 RBI. The half dozen have a combined .530 slugging percentage.
SCHEDULE CONTINUES STRONG
Illinois Head Coach Terri Sullivan has a philosophy that says that "in order to be the best you should have to play the best." That is reflected in this year's schedule, where the Illini will play at least 23 games against teams that made the NCAA Tournament last year.
• A total of nine teams from the pre-season Top 25 are on the schedule.
MORE ON IOWA
Iowa enters the week 17-12 on the year heading into Wednesday's game with Upper Iowa. The Hawkeyes bat .249 as a team paced by Stacy May (.382) and Emily Nichols (.350). Ali Arnold paces the pitchers with a 6-5 record and a 2.73 ERA. Iowa has played an extremely tough schedule with seven of its 12 losses coming against teams currently in the Top 25, four of those to No. 9 Arizona State. The Hawkeyes have also lost to No. 5 Tennessee (11-2), No. 8 Cal (1-0), and No. 13 Louisiana-Lafayette (6-0). Iowa has victories over No. 10 Georgia (6-5) and No. 23 North Carolina (3-2, 8 innings).
MORE ON WISCONSIN
Wisconsin is one of the hottest teams in the Big Ten, winners of five in a row and six of its last seven, but the Badgers have been idle since going 4-0 at the Capital Classic in Sacramento. The Badgers have struggled at the plate with only a .235 batting average as a team, paced by Samantha Polito, who it batting .357. Wisconsin has 12 home runs in 21 games. Eden Brock (8-5) has 13 of the Badgers 21 decisions in the circle with 66 strikeouts in 81 innings pitched.
MORE ON OFFENSIVE NUMBERS
• At 27 home runs, the Illini are six off their best season of 33 roundtrippers set in 2003.
• With 36 doubles, the Illini are on pace to break the record for most doubles in a season, 63 set also in 2003.
• That year Illinois hit. 285 compared to this year's .294 clip.
