By Logan Hanson
FightingIllini.com

With over 600 wins, 200 Big Ten Conference wins and six NCAA tournament appearances, the Illinois softball team has experienced many great moments in its 20-year history. All the glory, achievements and victories would not be possible without the dedication and commitment given by one particularly special softball team.

The inaugural softball team, who played the program's first game in 2000, had a one-of-a-kind experience in their efforts to bring collegiate softball to the University of Illinois. With a roster composed of all walk-ons, no conference schedule and no home field, the 2000 team was truly fighting an uphill battle when it came to starting a program. Now 20 years later, members of that first unit look back at the 2000 season fondly and understand the significance their role played on what is now a very successful softball program. 

"It's like 'Woah! 20 years?'" former Illini softball head coach Terri Sullivan said. "It just doesn't seem like it could possibly be that."

Sullivan, who coached the team from 2000-2016, remembers some of the difficulties that came along with coaching a new program's first team. Put into one of the most unique positions in all of sports, Sullivan found herself at the wheel of a program with no scholarship athletes and no direction. But Sullivan was undeterred and wanted to field a team as soon as possible rather than taking a year off to recruit. Due to the nature of the situation, Sullivan's first Illinois team is held in special regard for her because of what they were able to accomplish through such difficulties.

"The first season we had a team that was an entire team of walk-ons. We played about a 30-game schedule, we were not in the Big Ten yet, I had been given the chose by my first boss, the great Ron Gunther, to recruit for a year or to begin a season the first year," Sullivan said. "That group was extremely special for so many different reasons, obviously they launched a program officially. We were the last school in the Big Ten to start softball."

One of the first hurdles Sullivan and her staff had to jump was to fill a roster. To do this, the team held open player tryouts which were immensely popular for all of potential walk-ons candidates on campus. 

"We had held a tryout that a couple of hundred students arrived at and that was unbelievable in itself to show just how popular the sport had gotten," Sullivan said.

Annie White remembers the tryouts as well. White was a member of the University's club softball team during her freshmen and sophomore years and ended up trying out as a pitcher for the varsity team at the start of her junior year.

"There were lots of people who tried out. I mean there was a lot, I don't want to over exaggerate, but there was a lot," White said about the tryouts.

White ended up making the team as a pitcher that would play in both starting and relieving roles. Another player trying out that day and who would end up being critical for White that season was her future catcher Mari Anne Brocker-Curry, formally Mari Anne Brocker. Brocker-Curry had always wanted to go to Illinois to play softball, but had to settle for the school's club team in lieu of a true varsity team. But when the opportunity came for varsity tryouts, Brocker-Curry was quick to show off her skills to the coaching staff.

"I was pretty heartbroken when I discovered that Illinois didn't have a team so I decided to come to Illinois anyway for the education," Brocker-Curry said, "I found a club team that existed and that was competitive and met a lot of great teammates and then had an opportunity to try out for the inaugural team. So it worked out like I planned it even though I don't know really if that was how it was supposed to happen."

By the end of the tryouts, the softball coaching staff had a roster of 24 student-athletes all with various degrees of experience and success. With this, the coaching staff was finally able to mold the team in their image. This image would help the program establish what it wanted to be for years to come.

"I know for our staff it was a special year because we were able to implement some things that we wanted Illinois softball to be all about and they really laid a great foundation of what it means to wear that uniform," Sullivan said, "I was so excited myself and passionate to build a program from the ground up and was really thankful for the opportunity that I was given."

One of the most crucial aspects that would determine the success of the team was the player's ability to connect with one another and come together through a chaotic season. With many different personalities and attitudes, it was important that the group of individuals became a team. According to people in and around the team, the players were able to be successful in creating this chemistry and then some with many players still staying connected now 20 years later.

"We had a very strong bond," Brocker-Curry said, "That first team I think is some ways is still connected even though we all have gone to different corners of the country."

Jeanne "Shorty" Eichelberger, who is considered the Godmother of the softball team, agrees with Brocker-Curry and her assessment of the team. Having been called the team's number one fan by players and attending all but four home games based on her count, Eichelberger is seen as the top person when it comes to understanding the atmosphere around the team.

"I have lived almost every day of [Illinois softball] for 20 years," Eichelberger said. "I don't remember any challenges because we all just got along so well and it was just us at first, the original 24."

 One of the top moments for the 2000 team was the opportunity to honor the Eichelberger family with the groundbreaking ceremony of their first field. Although their first season had been forced on the road, the community and team was extremely excited to be able to bring true collegiate softball gameplay to Champaign-Urbana.

"To go through the groundbreaking ceremony with "Shorty" Eichelberger was really special. I remember such a great turnout. You could just see the excitement the community, both the university community and the Urbana-Champaign community, had for softball," Sullivan said.

Players were also excited during the buildup of the groundbreaking. In fact, they would cheer on the construction workers as they built their new facility.

"We were in line of sight of the construction and so we would regularly chant 'We love the bulldozers!' during practice and we really kind of had a front row seat to seeing it built," Brocker-Curry said.

With so many unique and special moments for the team, it is difficult for the members of the team and close to the team to choose just one as their absolute favorite.

"There are just too many funny stories to tell because one it was a dynamic group of young women we had, their personalities were amazing and so many different majors and goals and what they were aspiring to be so it was really fun," Sullivan said. "Just a really great year that team means an awful lot to me as do all the players I was ever privileged to coach, but I was really privileged to have that coach under the staff and I."

"Just so many memories," said Eichelberger.

With the 20th season celebration coming up when the Illini softball team plays the Michigan Wolverines on Saturday, many of the players are looking forward to reliving their time together and being able to see how far the program has come since their first season together.

 "It's fun to reminisce, it's hard to believe that it's been 20 years," White said, "I mean it really has been a blink of an eye, it's really hard to realize that it's been 20 years. So I am looking forward to seeing some of the girls from that team."

"It does go in the blink of an eye, as much as my body does tells me it was 20 years ago my heart tells me it was just yesterday," said Brocker-Curry.

Sullivan, the woman who was at the head of it all and was able to successfully bring the unit together, feels honored to be able to work with such a special group of players. For her, it is not only about being able to start the program, but also to have the program see continuing success in the future.

 "I think it was an honor for them to be a part of that and it certainly was an honor for me and my staff to coach them," Sullivan said. "I'm just really proud of being a part of something really special at Illinois and I know that they will continue to do really great things."

And what does Sullivan believe the legacy of the inaugural team will be years into the future?

"They can always say we were the first," Sullivan said. "People remember firsts all the time right?"