University of Minnesota Athletics
Softball Faces No. 18 Illinois in Season Finale
5/14/2010 12:00:00 AM | Softball
Season Finale
The 2010 campaign comes to a close this weekend as Minnesota heads to Illinois for their last two games. The series runs Friday, May 14 and Saturday, May 15 with game times set for 6:00 p.m. and 1:00 p.m. respectively. Illinois enters the weekend ranked No. 18 in the country, and will also be playing in their final series of the regular season.
The Records
The Gophers got back in the win column on Wednesday and come into the series with a 16-35 overall record and a 2-15 mark in the Big Ten, sitting in 11th place. The Illini, meanwhile, are 41-6 on the season, and are 14-2 in Big Ten action where they are tied with Ohio State for second in the league, behind one-loss Michigan. The Fighting Illini can still win an outright Big Ten title and earn an auto-bid to the NCAA tournament with a sweep and some help.
The Series
The Illini are the Gophers least played opponent in the Big Ten, with just 17 meetings all time. In the series, the Gophers trail 4-13, and have lost three straight. Minnesota's last win in the series was in 2008, and Illinois has won seven of the last eight. The Gophers have won two games on the road in the series including the 2008 win. The series started even with the two teams splitting in each 2001 and 2002, before the Illini won eight of the next nine.
Last Match-Up
The Illini swept the Gophers at home last season, losing 5-4 in the first and and 2-1 in eight innings in the second to close out the home season. In the first, Minnesota entered the seventh inning down two, and scored one to narrow the gap, but Illinois eventually closed out the 5-4 win. In the second the Illini scored once in the eighth to break a 1-1 tie, and then held off the Gophers for the 2-1 win.
Follow Along
Follow along with all of the action from Champaign, Ill, as the Fighting Illini will provide Live Stats of each game on www.FightingIllini.com. Gametracker for each game can be found the Illini softball schedule page.
Last Time Out
On Wednesday, Minnesota won a 10-9 thriller over Wisconsin and snapped their record 15-game losing skid. The Gophers lost a one-run lead in the seventh and had to wait until the 10th inning to score again, and after the Badgers scored five in the top of the inning. Minnesota answered with six in the bottom and won on a walk-off single. The two teams were set to play a doubleheader on Wednesday, but after the length of game one, and a lighting delay to game two, the second contest was eventually cancelled.
Next Up
After this weekend the Gophers will begin to look to 2011, when they will lose their five seniors, but return 15 players, including eight who were regular starters and 14 who started at least one game. After being one of the youngest teams in the Big Ten in 2010, the Gophers will be one of the most experienced next season.
Scouting Illinois
41-6 on the season, the third best record in the country, and 14-2 in the Big Ten ... tied for second with Ohio State with identical 14-2 league records ... tied with Michigan for fewest overall losses in the league ... currently ranked No. 18 in both the NFCA top-25 and USA Softball rankings ... league losses were a 7-1 setback to Michigan to open Big Ten play on Mar. 27 and a 10-2 loss to Ohio State on Apr. 11 ... are coming off a sweep of Purdue on May 12, winning each game but shutout, with a combined score of 13-0 ... won 12 straight before a loss to DePaul on May 6 ... Big Ten leader in team batting with a .323 average ... second in the Big Ten in team pitching with a 1.95 ERA ... second in the Big Ten in team fielding with a .964 fielding percentage ... ranked sixth in the NCAA in scoring at nearly seven runs per game ... team batting average is 10th in the country ... three players are batting over .400.
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