University of Illinois
Rutgers
Fighting Illini Softball Welcomes Rutgers for Big Ten Series
March 23, 2023 | Softball
Preview
| Illinois (18-9, 0-0 B1G) Opens Big Ten Play with Series against Rutgers | |
|---|---|
| When & Where | March 24-26 // Urbana, Ill. // Eichelberger Field |
| Day & Time |
Friday // 5 p.m. |
| Series History | Rutgers // 7-2 |
| Television |
B1G+ |
| Stats | Live Stats |
| Notes | Illinois // Rutgers |
| Social Media | @IlliniSB  | #Illini | @IlliniSB  | Facebook  | YouTube  |
FIGHTING ILLINI HOST RUTGERS FOR FIRST BIG TEN SERIES
Illinois softball opens Big Ten play with a weekend series against Rutgers at Eichelberger Field. The opener against the Scarlet Knights is slated for 5 p.m. on Friday. Saturday's matinee will take place at 1 p.m. with Sunday's series finale slated for noon.
SCOUTING RUTGERS
Rutgers heads to Illinois with a 23-10 overall mark this season with the team having won its last six games. Kyleigh Sand leads the team offensively, hitting .413 this year with eight extra-base hits including three triples. Freshman Raimy Gamsby paces the Scarlet Knights with a 1.88 ERA and a 7-3 record this season. The Napa, Calif., native owns 52 strikeouts this season during her 70.2 innings of work.
LAST TIME OUT
Fighting Illini softball took down Bradley, 5-1, in a midweek clash with the Braves at Eichelberger Field. Lauren Wiles went 5.1 innings during the win, giving up one run on five hits, allowing two walks and striking out five. Addy Jarvis picked up her third save throwing 1.2 shutout innings while fanning a pair of batters.
Offensively, the Fighting Illini were paced by Avrey Steiner who went 2-for-4 on the day with a double. Stevie Meade was stellar offensively at the plate as well, going 1-for-3 with two RBI. Delaney Rummell added two hits in four trips to the plate while recording an RBI while Megan Ward went 2-for-3 for Illinois.
STRIKE FIRST, STRIKE EARLY
Hot starts have proved to be critical for the Fighting Illini this season. The team is 10-0 when scoring in the first inning and 1-5 when letting the opposition score in the opening frame. The Orange and Blue is also 16-2 when scoring first and 2-7 when surrendering the first run of the game.
NO SUBS, NO PROBLEM
During the Illini's 3-0 shutout of Saint Francis (Pa.), on March 13, neither team made a change to their lineup card. The game marked the only known matchup this season where both squads stuck to their original 10 players and did not make any adjustments to their lineup.
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 Indianola, Iowa, native owns 649 strikeouts for her career, making the pitcher Illinois all-time strikeouts leader.
STEINER RECORDS 200TH HIT
Avrey Steiner recorded her 200th career hit during the Illini's visit to Tampa. The second baseman holds 208 hits heading into the week. The Fowler, Ohio, native owns 29 hits and a .322 batting average during her 2023 campaign.
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.
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.
EICHELBERGER FIELD: HOME OF THE BIG TEN TOURNAMENT
The Big Ten Tournament runs through Urbana, Ill., as Eichelberger Field serves as the host site for the 2023 conference tournament. This will be the first time Illinois softball as hosted the event.The tournament is set to take place from May 10-13 with every game broadcasted on BTN.
