March 21, 2007

Box Score
GALLERY

Urbana, Ill. - After hitting 16 home runs in five days, Illinois hitters had to be licking their chops when the wind was blowing out on Opening Day at Eichelberger Field. The Illini hit five home runs in an 18-4 torching of Illinois-Chicago Wednesday. The victory was their seventh in the past eight games and improves their record to 17-10.

Illinois now has 42 home runs as a team, just seven off a school record for an entire season set in 2006. The coaches and players were quick to point out that although the wind was blowing out it did not diminish the accomplishment. "We were careful to make sure that they didn't get stars in their eyes and swing for the fences and they didn't" said Illinois head coach Terri Sullivan. "(The home runs) were hit pretty hard and would have been out no matter what kind of day it was."

Indeed Illinois hit the ball hard up and down the order as balls sailed out of the park to all three fields. Makenzie Smith hit two homeruns giving her seven for the season. Her shot to left field as part of a 10-run third inning reached Florida Avenue on the fly.

"We've worked real hard in our offensive drills," added Sullivan. "We feel we have a line-up that's tough from top to bottom and the results show that."

Catcher Lana Armstrong, who continues to see her batting average climb, was 2-for-3 with a double, a home run and five RBI to bump her average to .473. In addition, her leadoff home run in the third extended her hitting streak to 13, establishing a new Illinois record. Rachelle Coriddi and Jenna Hall had 12-game streaks in their careers.

"Lana was one player who really ignited our offense from the beginning," Sullivan said. "That's just a credit to her great work ethic. Today as she has all season, she worked the count, fouling off pitches before finally hitting that home run. Hitting is contagious and the rest of the team has fed off that."

Sullivan was also quick to point to yet another example of her team able to overcome an early deficit. UIC's Liz Jacoby hit a two-run shot, one of three Flames (7-15) homers, to make it 2-0 in the top of the first. Illinois bounced right back with solo blasts from Shanna Diller (3-for-4, HR, 2B, 3 runs), whose eighth home run of the season ties her with Angelena Mexicano for the team lead, and Smith.

"This team has great resiliency," Sullivan said. "They believe in their ability to come back no matter the deficit,"

Senior Molly Lawhead joined the parade with a solo blast to deep center in the second. Lawhead needed a single to hit for the cycle, but reached base on a walk, double, triple and home run.

The 10-run third featured a grand slam from Smith, who was 3-for-4 with a double and three runs scored to go along with her two homers and five RBI. The inning also featured five walks and one error, which meant eight of the ten runs unearned.

The compilation of Illinois' offense continues to be impressive. The Illini now have 21 home runs in the past six days and have raised their team batting average to .321. In addition to their 42 home runs on the season, Illinois has 47 doubles and five triples for a team slugging percentage of .568 paced by Armstrong (.892), Mexicano (.795) and Smith (.744).

Freshman Vicky Brown pitched all five innings to record the victory and move to 11-3 on the season.