ACC/Big Ten Challenge
Game 6: Boston College	Friday, Feb. 15, 2019 | 11:30 a.m. CT | Mewborn Field | Atlanta, Ga. Live Stats
Game 7: Georgia Tech	Friday, Feb. 15, 2019 | 4:30 p.m. CT | Mewborn Field | Atlanta, Ga. Live Stats | Video
Game 8: Boston College	Saturday, Feb. 16, 2019 | 2 p.m. CT | Mewborn Field | Atlanta, Ga. Live Stats
Game 9: Georgia Tech	Saturday, Feb. 16, 2019 | 4:30 p.m. CT | Mewborn Field | Atlanta, Ga. Live Stats | Video
Full Tournament Notes	Illinois
2019 Statistics	Illinois | Boston College | Georgia Tech
Series History	Boston College: Illinois leads, 2-0 // Last: W, 5-1; 2/20/2016; Chapel Hill, N.C. // Streak: Won 2 Georgia Tech: Illinois leads, 5-3; Last: W, 10-6; 2/26/2017; Atlanta, Ga. // Streak: Won 3
Social Media	@IlliniSB  | #Illini  | Facebook  | @IlliniSB  | YouTube

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. - The Illinois softball team continues plays this weekend as it travels to Atlanta, Georgia, for the fourth annual ACC/Big Ten Challenge, hosted by Georgia Tech at Mewborn Field on February 15-16. Due to expected bad weather on Sunday, the weekend schedule was adjusted from eight games played over a three-day span (Friday through Sunday), to now playing four contests on Friday and Saturday. 

The Illini will face both Boston College and Georgia Tech on both days, taking on the Eagles at 11:30 a.m. CT on Friday and 2 p.m., on Saturday, and facing the host Yellow Jackets at 4:30 p.m., on both days

ILLINI NOTES

• The 2019 season marks the 20th season for the Illinois softball program, with the Illini owning a 58.3 winning percentage as a program and earned their landmark 600th win in the first game of the 2019 season - a 7-4 win over No. 22 Oklahoma State - and own a 602-431-2 overall record, as well as a 195-170 mark in Big Ten Conference action.
• The Illini opened the 2019 campaign off with a bang, registering as 3-2 record at the Houston Invitational - with all three wins coming from teams ranked or recieving votes in the polls, including pair of victories on Opening Day against No. 22 Oklahoma State (7-4) and No. 13 Kentucky (6-5 in eight innings) - marking the first win in program history over the wildcats - and a 4-2 win over host Houston on Saturday night. 
• The Illini return 15 members from the 2018 squad, including five starters and four pitchers while welcoming in two transfers - Maddy Adams and Katie Wingerter - and eight freshmen - Kailee Powell, Zaria Dunlap, Danielle Dennis, Danielle Davis, Sydney Sickels, Avrey Steiner, Hannah Sasaki and Abby Sagert.
• The Illini wrapped up the third season under head coach Tyra Perry with a 37-18 overall record in 2018 and a sixth-place finish with a 13-8 mark in the Big Ten Conference. It was the first time in program history the Illini have registered 36 wins or more for three-straight seasons after notching 36 wins in 2016 and 39 victories in 2017. 
• It was also just the second time in program history that the Illini have posted 30+ wins per season in a three-year span after notching wins of 49, 34, 39 and 45, respectively, from 2001-04.

ACC/BIG TEN CHALLENGE

• In its fourth season, the ACC/Big Ten Softball Challenge will feature 10 schools from each conference, with eight of those schools playing four games each at four campus sites, while two more compete at the inaugural ESPN St. Pete/Clearwater Elite Invitational in Clearwater, Fla., all during a four-day period from Feb. 14-17, 2019.
• Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Michigan State, Nebraska, Northwestern, Penn State and Wisconsin will represent the Big Ten in the Challenge games. On the ACC side, Duke, Georgia Tech, North Carolina and N.C. State will serve as host sites for this year's Challenge, with the other ACC participants being Boston College, Louisville, Pittsburgh and Syracuse.
• The Big Ten has posted a combined 47-57 record in the first three years of the Challenge, with the Illini holding a 5-3 record in the event. The Illini posted a 3-1 record during the inaugural event in 2016, sweeping Boston College and splitting with UNC in Chapel Hill, N.C., and then split their four contests a season ago against North Carolina and Pittsburgh, also held in Chapel Hill. 
• The Big Ten and ACC offices collaborate to determine the schedule each season. In addition, the official title of the Challenge rotates each year. The 2019 event will be referred to as the ACC/Big Ten Softball Challenge and will continue to mirror the official title of the conferences' Challenge agreements for men's basketball, women's basketball and volleyball.

OPENING WEEKEND STANDOUTS

• Senior Alexis Carrillo led the Illini at the plate with a .444 batting average after going 4-for-9 with a double, while four other Illini registered averages over .300, including senior Kiana Sherlund (.368), redshirt-seniors Annie Fleming (.368) and Carly Thomas (.353) and sophomore Rhein Trochim (.333).
• Fleming and Sherlund paced the team with seven hits each, with Sherlund posting three doubles and Fleming knocking a home run in her first game back following a redshirt year due to an injury a season ago. Sherlund also totaled a team-high three stolen bases.
• Sophomore Bella Loya registered .278 batting average with five hits – with four going as home runs – as well as a team-highs of seven RBI and five runs. The sophomore totaled 17 bases, three walks and a .944 slugging percentage, while owning a perfect 1.000 fielding percentage with 10 put outs and an assist. In the season's opening day, Loya posted five RBI on two home runs against OSU and UK on Friday, before finishing the weekend with a 3-for-3 effort – including another two dingers - with two RBI and two runs against Sam Houston State on Sunday.
• Freshman Sydney Sickels posted a 1-1 record with two saves in five appearances and registered a 3.50 ERA in a team-high 14.0 innings after giving up just seven earned runs on 15 hits and totaling 11 strikeouts. The freshman made her Illini debut on Friday against the Cowboys, entering in the sixth frame with the bases loaded and no outs and forcing a grounder for a double play and then notching a strikeout looking. Sickels threw two hitless and scoreless frames and struck out two en route to her first career save. She then followed that up by earning her first career win in her first career start, going all 8.0 innings against the Wildcats on Friday, allowing four earned runs on 10 hits and four walks and striking out six. On Saturday against the host Cougars, Sickels entered in the seventh with the Illini leading 4-2 and recorded a three-up, three-down inning to secure the victory.
• Junior Akilah Mouzon posted a team-low 2.90 ERA in four appearances, allowing just four earned runs on 11 hits and striking out five in 9.2 innings.

ILLINI IN THE POLLS

• After a successful first weekend that saw the Illini take down two ranked teams, Illinois entered the receiving votes section of both the USA Today/NFCA Top-25 poll and the ESPN.com/USA Softball Top-25 poll, earning 21 and 26 votes, respectively. 
• Along with receiving votes in two polls, the Illini entered at No. 21 in the newest poll in collegiate softball, the Softball America Top 25. The sister publication to Baseball America, Softball America debuted its first-ever poll last week.

SHERLUND NAMED TO TOP 50 WATCH LIST FOR 2019 USA SOFTBALL COLLEGIATE POY 

• Senior Kiana Sherlund was named to the Top 50 Watch List for the 2019 USA Softball Collegiate Player of the Year, the organization announced on January 30. 
• A National Fastpitch Coaches Association (NFCA) All-Midwest Region First-Team and unanimous All-Big Ten First Team selection a season ago, Sherlund paced the Illini in multiple offensive categories, including batting average (.397), runs (52), hits (81), triples (8), RBI (47) and total bases (122), while also ranking second in stolen bases (15). The outfielder also led the Big Ten Conference in hits, triples and total bases, while also ranking fourth in batting average and runs and seventh in RBIs.
• An Illinois Dike Eddleman Female Athlete of the Year Finalist in 2018, Sherlund also ranked third in the NCAA in triples and eighth in hits, with her eight three-baggers and 81 knocks setting new season records for the program in both categories. The Fairfax, Virginia native owned a team-high 36 multiple-hit games, while also totaling 12 multiple-RBI contests, with four of her six home runs she registered last season going as grand slams.