April 11, 2006
Urbana, Ill. -
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Illinois (16-22) at DePaul (18-11)
When: Wednesday, April 12, 3 p.m. (DH)
Where: Cacciatore Stadium, Chicago, Ill.
Series: DePaul leads 4-3-1
Purdue (23-21, 3-5) at Illinois (16-22, 3-5)
When: Friday, April 14, 6 p.m.,
Saturday, April 15, Noon
Where: Eichelberger Field, Urbana, Ill.
Series: Illinois leads 7-3
Indiana (18-17-1, 3-5) at Illinois (16-22, 3-5)
When: Sunday, April 16, Noon (DH)
Where: Eichelberger Field, Urbana, Ill.
Series: Illinois leads 7-3
What's at stake: This is a big weekend for positioning in the Big Ten conference race. After two weeks, five teams have positioned themselves at the top of the conference. With eight teams making the conference tournament, that leaves six teams battling for three spots. Illinois, Purdue, and Indiana all come into the weekend tied for sixth in the league, so this makes this a pivotal four games.
Chance to take down WCWS qualifier: Illinois has six games this year against three teams that qualified for the Women's College World Series. The Illini have lost twice to Cal and play at defending national champion Michigan later this month. Wednesday, Illinois gets its crack at knocking off DePaul, who defeated Northwestern in the Super Regional to advance to Oklahoma City in 2005.
Payback: Illinois suffered its first sweeps at the hands of both Purdue and Indiana last year. The Illini will be trying to settle that score.
More on DePaul: The Blue Demons fell out of the rankings this week, after falling in a doubleheader at Syracuse on Sunday. The Demons had been ranked 25th in the USA Softball poll last week. DePaul is 18-11 and holds a 7-4 win over Florida. Amber Patton leads the Demons with a .403 average.
More on Purdue: Purdue is coming off one of its biggest regular season victories, a 5-4 win at Michigan. This after falling to the Wolverines 14-0 in five innings in the first game of the doubleheader. Purdue and Illinois rank second and third in the Big Ten, respectively, in team batting average (.279). Tricia Lilley is 10th in the league with a .352 average and fourth in the league with a 30 runs scored.
More on Indiana: Second-year coach Stacey Phillips has done a remarkable job in her second year as head coach, trying to get the Hoosiers just their second winning season since 1997. Since then, Indiana is 138-242 overall and 30-130 in the Big Ten. The Hoosiers this year are 18-17-1 and 3-5 in the league, which includes two wins over ranked opponents -- No. 15 Nebraska (2-1) and No. 25 North Carolina (1-0). The Hoosiers started the Big Ten 3-1, but went 0-4 in their trip to Michigan and Michigan State last weekend. Lauren Hines is the big hitter for the Hoosiers with a .417 average, seven home runs, and 21 RBI.
Jenna Hall named one of 25 finalists for USA Softball Player of the Year: Jenna Hall has been named one of 25 finalists for USA Softball Player of the Year. Hall is batting .505 with 11 home runs, 32 RBI, a .652 on-base percentage, and a .946 slugging percentage. Hall is one of only two Big Ten players on the Watch List joining Jennie Ritter of Michigan. Hall is also the first Illini player in the history of the program to be named to the list.
Illini post grand comeback vs. Penn State: Illinois posted one of its most dramatic comeback victories in the school history on Sunday. Trailing Penn State 5-2 heading into the bottom of the seventh, the Illini scored five runs to win the game 7-5. The big blow was a walk-off grand slam home run from shortstop Angelena Mexicano that hit off the top of the scoreboard. Mexicano had two homers in the game.
• The win over Penn State marked the first sweep in Happy Valley for the Illini in school history.
Mexicano posting big RBI numbers: Angelena Mexicano has burst to the Big Ten lead in RBI with 41. The number is two off the Illinois record of 43 set by Jenna Hall last season.
• Mexicano has six home runs and 24 RBI in the past 12 games, having three big days. On March 28 vs. Loyola, Mexicano was 3-for-7 with a home run, a double and seven RBI in the doubleheader sweep.
• Mexicano was 3-for-8 with two doubles, a home run and six RBI in a doubleheader split with Wisconsin
• Then vs. Penn State, she had two home runs and six RBI and after hitting a three-run home run on Saturday at Ohio State.
• Of Mexicano's last 14 hits, nine have been for extra bases, including six for home runs.
I would walk 500 miles: Jenna Hall has already broken her single-season walks record with 37 walks on the year, breaking her mark of 36 all of last year. Hall is climbing the national chart as far as walks are concerned ranking 27th all-time in NCAA Division I career walks with 125 and sixth all-time in intentional walks with 23. (See page 3 for complete list).
Season records in jeopardy: Although the season is just a little over halfway, it appears that several records are in jeopardy. Jenna Hall is batting .505 bettering Lindsey Hamma's record of .429 in 2002. Hall's slugging percentage of .946 betters Erin Montgomery's .614 in 2003 and her on-base percentage of .652 better's Hamma's .505 of 2002. Rachelle Coriddi's 35 runs scored are just 12 shy of Hamma's 47. Angelena Mexicano's 12 doubles are five shy of Montgomery' 17 in 2001. Hall's 11 home runs are one shy of Montgomery's 12 in 2003. Mexicano's 41 RBI are two off of last year's mark of 43 set by Hall. Hall's 37 walks are a new record, bettering her 36 of 2004 and her 88 total bases are nine shy of Montgomery's 97 (2003). Coriddi is also two shy of her stolen base record of 23 set in 2003.
Player of the Week: Hall earned Big Ten Player of the Week 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.
Gibsonesque moment: Hall had a moment that, although not as dramatic, resembled that of Kirk Gibson's home run during the 1988 World Series. After banging herknee two days before and not tot being able to get around the bases real fast, Hall smacked a home run over the right-center field fence vs. Princeton on March 26 and made the slow trot around the bases. The home run gave the Illini a 3-2 lead. The Tigers won 4-3, however.
Around the world in 80 days: From Feb. 9-April 30, a period of exactly 80 days, the Illini softball team will have logged a total of 24,059 miles to play games. That does not count multiple trips to the field. The circumference of the earth is approximately 25,000 miles.
Model of consistency: Rachelle Coriddi has a hit in 30 of the Illini's 38 games this season.
• A speed demon on the base paths so far this year, Coriddi has 21 stolen bases in 23 attempts. Coriddi, already Illinois' stolen base leader now has 85 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.
In a pinch: Makenzie Smith has proven to be a solid bat off the bench for the Illini with a .375 batting average (3-for-8) in those situations, including a three-run home run vs. Loyola on March 28.
Iron horse: Claire DeVreese has appeared in 37 of 38 games this season. Her 37 appearances leads the Big Ten.
• DeVreese had a great day vs. Penn State, posting wins in both games, posting her second shutout of the season and tossing a three-hit shutout in the opener and giving up just two runs in three innings of relief in the second game.
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.
