After spending most of the first portion of the season on the road, Illinois softball comes back to Eichelberger Field in Urbana over the weekend for a four game set to begin conference play.

Iowa, who has been ranked as highly as 17th this season, comes to town on Friday and Saturday night for two games while Wisconsin visits for a doubleheader on Sunday.

“Playing in the Big Ten is a lot of fun,” head coach Terri Sullivan said. “The games are just so fierce and so competitive that you hang onto every at-bat as a fan, as a player, and as a coach. We’re looking forward to it. We feel our team has grown through ups and downs in a very challenging February and March schedule and that’s going to position us to do some exciting things in the Big Ten.”

Illinois has been coming together as a team lately, with the slumping offense back to normal, the defense developing quickly, and the pitching dominating opposing hitters.

But the Hawkeyes finished third in the Big Ten last year, 19th in the national rankings, and hope to start quickly in conference play with a couple wins against the Illini.

Iowa junior outfielder Mindy Heidgerken, who was a member of the All-Big Ten team last year, is a threat on the base paths, leading the team with 22 stolen bases as a sophomore. Illinois split a two game set with them in Iowa City last year, and Iowa has a slight one-game advantage over Illinois in the overall series.

On Sunday, Illinois faces off with Wisconsin, who finished fifth in the Big Ten last year, but graduated three of their top run producers.

The Badgers still have a powerful offense that shattered the school record with 54 home runs last year, returning Katie Hnatyk and Ricci Robben, who had nine and eight home runs each. Wisconsin’s potent offense combined with the Illini’s tendency to give up bombs in large numbers could result in a high scoring game, but Illinois starting pitchers Claire DeVreese and Kacey Coonce hope to shut this part of Wisconsin’s game down.

“Any team in the Big Ten will be a challenge for your defense and your pitching staff,” Sullivan said. “Every team has an aggressive style of play. These games should be a lot of fun to watch.”

Although the Illini are 10-3 overall against the Badgers, Wisconsin swept Illinois last year by scores of 7-3 and 3-1 and will look to keep the winning streak going. Wisconsin played its better Big Ten ball away from Madison last year, compiling an 8-2 record on the road while they were 3-7 at home.

Eden Brock, Wisconsin’s stud starting pitcher, will most likely pitch against Illinois. Brock won her last ten decisions last season before falling to No. 1 Michigan. She was 20-11 last season with a 2.78 earned run average and 135 strikeouts.

“We feel we adjust to pitchers we face very well,” Sullivan said. “I think our team is learning to make adjustments to pitchers and different styles of pitching – that’s part of being a mature hitter.”