| Mississippi State Tournament |
Game 16:
RV/No. 23 Mississippi State |
Friday, March 9, 2018 | 6 p.m. CT | Starkville, Miss. | Nusz Park
Live Stats | Live Video: SEC Network+/WatchESPN |
Game 17:
UMass-Lowell |
Saturday, March 10, 2018 | 11 a.m. CT | Starkville, Miss. | Nusz Park
Live Stats |
Game 18:
RV/No. 23 Mississippi State |
Saturday, March 10, 2018 | 1:30 p.m. CT | Starkville, Miss. | Nusz Park
Live Stats | Live Video: SEC Network+/WatchESPN |
Game 19:
UMass-Lowell |
Sunday, March 11, 2018 | 11 a.m. CT | Starkville, Miss. | Nusz Park
Live Stats |
| Full Tournament Notes |
Illinois |
| Statistics |
Illinois (8-6) | Mississippi State (16-3) | UMass-Lowell (2-8) |
| Series History |
Mississippi State: Series tied, 1-1 // Last: W, 4-3; 2/15/2015; Starkville, Miss. // Streak: Won 1
UMass-Lowell: First Meeting
|
| Social Media |
@IlliniSB  | #Illini | Facebook  | @IlliniSB  | YouTube 
|
CHAMPAIGN, Ill. - The Illinois softball team opens midweek action this week with a road trip to Peoria, Ill., to take on Bradley on Wednesday (March 7) inside the Louisville Slugger Sports Complex Dome, before heading south to Starkville, Miss., for a three-team tournament at Mississippi State on March 9-11 in Nusz Park. Along with the host Bulldogs, the Illini will take on UMASS-Lowell, with each team playing the two other opponents twice on the weekend.
ILLINI NOTES
- The Illini went undefeated over the past weekend, sweeping all five games en route to earning Coach C Classic Championship at Charlotte West Stadium in Carbondale, Ill. UI was red hot to start the Southern Illinois-hosted tournament, combining for 24 runs with a 10-2 win over Northern Illinois, before dominating the host Salukis, 14-1, in six innings. The Illini continued their winning ways on Saturday with a 7-2 defeat of Murray State and a 5-0 victory over SIU in the tournament semi-final, before finishing off the weekend with a 2-1 win over NIU on Sunday.
- On Friday, the Illini combined for six doubles and three home runs, while totaling 18 hits against SIU, tying for the fourth-most in program history.
- For the weekend, the Illini outscored their opponents, 38 to six and totaled 50 hits in the five games, including eight doubles, four home runs and a triple.
- The 2018 season marks the 19th season for the Illinois softball program, with the Illini owning a 57.7 winning percentage as a program with a 570-417 -2 overall record, as well as a 182-162 mark in Big Ten Conference action.
OESTREICH NAMED BIG TEN PITCHER OF THE WEEK
- Junior pitcher Emily Oestreich earned Big Ten Pitcher of the Week accolades as she led the Illinois softball team to the Coach B Classic. The Napa, Calif., native went 3-0 with an impressive 0.57 ERA after giving up just two runs on 10 hits and six walks and striking out 25 batters in 24.2 innings. Oestreich started all five contests on the weekend, giving up just two extra-base hits while holding opposing batters to a .120 average.
- Threw 6.2 innings on Friday (3.2 IP vs. NIU, 3.0 IP vs. SIU), while not allowing a hit or a run, walked just three batters and struck out 10 – including a weekend-high seven Ks against the Huskies.
- Allowed just one earned run on four hits and two walks and struck out 11, while securing a pair of complete game wins over MSU and SIU on Saturday.
- Earned her third-straight win of the weekend on Sunday after giving up just one earned run on six hits and a walk, while striking out four in 4.0 innings of work against NIU.
COACH B CLASSIC STANDOUTS
- Junior Kiana Sherlund posted a .471 batting average to lead the Illini, while also totaling eight hits, seven RBI, seven runs and knocked her first home run of the season, a grand slam against Murray State on Saturday.
- Junior Stephanie Abello also led the team with a .471 batting average, as well as eight hits, including a pair of doubles, and six RBI and two runs.
- Redshirt-junior Carly Thomas also turned in a team-high eight RBI to go along with seven hits, five of which went as doubles, and six runs.
- Freshmen Maddison Demers and Bella Loya each registered their first career home run, with both rookies belting three-run bombs on Friday - Loya against Northern Illinois and Demers versus Southern Illinois.
- Junior Taylor Edwards recorded a 1.17 ERA with a win and a save in two appearances and 6.0 innings pitched in the Coach B Classic.
ILLINI AT THE PLATE
- The Illini pace the conference with a .313 batting average and rank 36th in the nation in that category, while also sitting in the top four in the league in slugging percentage (second, .430), on-base percentage (second, .369), hits (second, 123), doubles (third, 23) and total bases (fourth, 169).
- Nationally, Illinois also sits 22nd with 1.64 doubles per game, 54th with a 5.29 on-base percentage and 65th with a .430 slugging percentage.
- Redshirt-junior Carly Thomas leads the Big Ten and ranks third in the NCAA with nine doubles on the season, while also ranking fourth with 0.64 doubles per game.
- The Illini have five players in the top 15 in batting average in the Big Ten, with senior Leigh Farina leading the way in second with a .419 average, junior Alexis Carrillo next in fifth with a .382 clip. Junior Kiana Sherlund sits seventh with a .380 average, junior Stephanie Abello ranks in a tie for eighth at .375 and senoir Sam Acosta rounds out the group in 11th with a .364 average.
- Sherlund leads the Illini with 19 hits this season, with classmate Sam Acosta right behind her with 16 knocks.
- The Illini have seven home runs on the season so far with Carrillo, Sherlund, Thomas and seniors Rowan McGuire and Maddi Doane and freshmen Bella Loya and Maddison Demers each registering one.
- Sherlund also paces the Illini and ranks 14th in the Big Ten with 11 RBI, while McGuire, Thomas and Abello sit right behind her with 10 on the season.
- In the circle, junior Emily Oestreich paces the Illini with a 2.33 ERA in 51.0 innings of action, making 12 appearances and starting 10 contests. Her five wins on the season rank in a tie for fifth in the league, while her frames worked sits eighth in the B1G. She
- Oestreich also sits eighth in the conference with 42 strikeouts, while ranking 10th in opponent batting average with foes only hitting .224 against the right hander.
- Junior Taylor Edwards sits second in the conference and 14th nationally with two saves in 2018.
