Members of the Illinois softball team are writing a blog, which will be published throughout the 2019-20 school year. Follow all the action of Head coach Tyra Perry's squad right here on FIGHTINGILLINI.com.

Hey Illini softball fans!

I'm Kailee Powell—or KP, and if you're a person who isn't good with names, I'm #5—and this is now my second season as a Fighting Illini. In this behind the shield, I have the pleasure of explaining how the results of our season opener in Florida exemplifies the inevitable success that this program will see.

Through the duration of this entire weekend, I can confidently say every person on the team embodied the Fighting Illini mental process: we trusted our training, entering each game with the same aggressive mentality, wanting to win every pitch whether it was on defense or offense. Keeping this mentality can be a challenge no matter who we're playing so, this is even more impressive to say we kept this mentality while playing some of the best teams in softball history: including Team USA, Auburn and Ole Miss. By the end of the weekend, everyone on the team was excited over our two wins against Top 25 nationally ranked teams and the fact that we had sunburns to bring back to Champaign.

As a team, we have the unwavering ability to play our own game no matter who's on the opposing side. We are aggressive and we play for each other. This season, I am only expecting this team to give out more upsets and tragic losses. We do not mind being the underdog and have no problem proving people wrong.

Kailee Powell