ACC/B1G CHALLENGE AWAITS FIGHTING ILLINI
Illinois softball continues the season with the ACC/B1G Challenge in Atlanta, Ga. from Feb. 17-19. The Fighting Illini take on Louisville and host Georgia Tech in a pair of games each during the three-day affair.
WEEKEND PREVIEW
Louisville comes into the weekend at 4-1, receiving votes in the National Fastpitch Coaches Association (NFCA) poll. The team's lone loss was an 8-0 shutout at the hands on then-ranked No. 20 Kentucky. The Cardinals closed out the tournament with three-straight shutout victories, defeating Southern, 10-0, Missouri, 4-0, and Howard, 8-0. Both offensively and in the circle, Taylor Roby leads the way, batting .500 with three doubles and a home run while also tossing 8.0 innings and allowing just three hits.
Georgia Tech enters the weekend at 3-2 for the season, boasting wins over Connecticut, Saint Francis (Pa.) and Georgia State. The weekend marks the second-straight home tournament for the Yellow Jackets as they opened the season with the 24th Buzz Classic on at Mewborn Field. Mallorie Black leads GT with a .385 batting average and a 1.077 slugging percentage. Black boasts three dingers and nine RBI so far this year. Blake Neleman holds a 1.98 ERA in her 17.2 innings pitched, allowing six runs on eight hits while fanning 27 batters.
LAST TIME OUT
The Illini went 2-3 to open the season, topping Southern,14-2, in five innings and defeating Fordham, 6-4, in extra innings. The Orange and Blue went 0-3 against ranked opponents, falling to then-ranked No. 13 Tennessee, No. 6 Texas and No. 21 Auburn.
With the 14-2 triumph over Southern, the Fighting Illini have won seven-straight season opening contests dating back to the 2017 season. Avrey Steiner went 3-for-3 in the game with two RBI and four runs scored. During the nailbiter with Fordham, Sydney Malott recorded the game-winning swing, sending a long ball over the fence in the ninth inning to give the team the two-run edge.
SISTER, SISTER
The Fighting Illini's season opener served as a family reunion as head coach Tyra Perry faced off against younger sister Brittney Williams in a battle of the head coaches. Williams is in her second season at the helm for Southern.
The Illini's 14-2 triumph over the Jaguars marked first meeting between the two teams and the two head coaches. Williams played under Perry at WKU in Perry's first four years leading the program. With the Hilltoppers, Williams played in 168 games, making 104 starts. She logged 45 hits, 53 runs and 21 stolen bases during her four-year career.
SICKELS EARNS STRIKEOUT RECORDS
Sydney Sickels continues to etch her name in the Illinois softball record books. During the Fighting Illini's 6-4 extra innings victory over Fordham, Sickels fanned 21 batters, besting her career record. The mark currently stands as the most strikeouts in a single game for an Illini player. The tally also gave the Indianola, Iowa, native 594 strikeouts for her career, making the the pitcher Illinois all-time strikeouts leader.
FEELING VANNTASTIC
Illini softball head coach Tyra Perry has announced the addition of softball veteran Vann Stuedeman as Illinois' next pitching coach. The former Mississippi State head coach spent nearly two decades in the SEC, also serving as an assistant coach at Alabama prior to her arrival in Champaign.
Stuedeman led the Mississippi State program for the 2012-19 campaigns compiling an overall record of 275-190 across those eight seasons. Under her leadership, the Bulldogs appeared in seven NCAA Tournaments and won 33 or more games in seven of Stuedeman's eight seasons in Starkville.
Prior to her arrival in Starkville, Stuedeman helped Alabama claim three SEC regular-season titles en route to reaching the Women's College World Series six times.
STAFFING UPDATES
Miranda Rodriguez and Rachel Houck joined the Illini staff during this past offseason. Rodriguez serves as the team's volunteer assistant coach and Houck took over as the director of operations.
Rodriguez comes to Champaign-Urbana after a stint at Memphis where she served under the same role. She began her collegiate softball career at Cosumnes River College in 2017, leading the Hawks with 67 hits including 14 extra-base knocks. She owned a .424 batting average and drove in 37 RBI.
From there, she transferred to the Big 12. Across her four seasons at Kansas (2018-21), the Elk Grove, California, native appeared in 90 games for the Jayhawks. Rodriguez primarily played middle infield at Kansas.
Houck joins the Orange and Blue after two seasons as an assistant coach at Eastern Illinois, which followed two years as a graduate assistant with the Panthers.
Prior to her time at Eastern Illinois, Houck was a volunteer coach at Ball State in 2017 and helped the team to a 37-19 record and MAC West division title.
The Greenfield, Ind., native began her collegiate career at Louisville during the 2014 campaign. Houck went on to graduate from Ball State after playing the 2015-17 seasons with the Cardinals and plastered her name all over the single-season and career lists in the record book. She earned second team NFCA All-Region as a senior along with MAC Distinguished Scholar Athlete honors. Additionally, Houck was a three-time Academic All-MAC honoree.
During the 2015 campaign at Ball State, Houck and Perry overlapped and helped the Cardinals to a 34-25 record including a MAC Tournament championship.
LOOKING BACK AT 2022
Illinois saw a successful 2022 campaign, boasting a 34-22 record overall and a 15-8 mark in Big Ten action. The team placed third in the conference during league action and earned multiple wins over ranked opponents.For the eighth time in program history and the fourth under head coach Tyra Perry, the Illinois softball team earned a berth into the 2022 NCAA Tournament and was selected as one of the 32 at-large bids.
As a conference, the Big Ten earned a total of seven bids with Northwestern reaching the Women's College World Series. Michigan, Minnesota, Nebraska, Ohio State, and Wisconsin also joined the Illini in the field.
SIX ALL-BIG TEN HONOREES RETURN FOR 2023
Avrey Steiner was named First Team All-Big Ten, while Sydney Sickels and Kailee Powell were named Second Team All-Big Ten. Paige Berkmeyer, Lauren Wiles, and Stevie Meade all earned a spot on the All-Freshman team.
Steiner earned her second career All-Big Ten honor after being named Second Team All-Big Ten last season. The Fowler, Ohio native led the Big Ten in hits this season with 73, and also ranked seventh in the conference with a team-leading .390 batting average.
Sickels earned her first career All-Big Ten honor after setting a new career-high in strikeouts (181), good for sixth in the conference, and recording a sub-2.00 ERA for the first time in her career (1.98). Sickels also ranked third in the conference in strikeout-to-walk ratio (5.32) and strikeouts-per-seven innings (9.4), while ranking second in the conference in saves with four on the season.
Powell earned her second career All-Big Ten honor after being named First Team All-Big Ten last season. The Canyon Country, Calif. native was fifth in the conference in doubles (15) and sixth in doubles per game (0.28) this season.
Meade, Berkmeyer, and Wiles all earned spots on the All-Freshman team as a result of their stellar performances on the field as first-year players. Meade led all freshman this season in hits (45), RBI (28), and total bases (69), while also being tied for the lead in doubles (ten). Berkmeyer ranked tied for fourth among freshmen in batting average (.310) this season, while garnering 18 RBI and five doubles. Wiles led all freshman pitchers in the Big Ten in ERA (2.64) among players who pitched over 100 innings this season, while ranking second in strikeouts (87) and third in batting average against (.228).
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