There must be something about being a shortstop for Illinois softball this season. Entering their third tournament of the spring, the Illini are already on their third player at the position after losing Danielle Vaji to injury last weekend.

The sophomore suffered a torn ACL in the fifth inning of last Friday’s loss to Hofstra.

“There was a fly ball between me and Kelley (Wedel), she was playing third base, and she was going back on the ball because she was playing up and I was back, so I was going forward on it,” Vaji said. “She called me off the ball, and I stopped and it just locked up on me basically.”

But it wasn’t until she was unable to stop herself while attempting to cover a steal of second base that Vaji told the trainer she needed to come out.

The tear likely means the end of the season for the shortstop, who had recently returned to the lineup after suffering a shoulder injury in the fall.

“Mostly (I feel) disappointment just because I came back from another surgery and just got it like fully healed and was feeling pretty good with that one, and so just felt like disappointment,” Vaji said.

Vaji isn’t the first Illini to suffer an ACL tear – freshman Jessica Davis suffered the same injury earlier this spring.

Despite the injuries, head coach Terri Sullivan is confident in her young squad as it heads to the Houston Marriott Classic this weekend.

“Our team is very resilient, and we have a lot of players that have stepped up and, one, have helped her and, two, are still making adjustments they need to (in order) to keep our team very strong on the field,” Sullivan said.

“And Ashley Conrad is one of the most versatile players and just a player who isn’t fazed by too much,” Sullivan added. “There’s not really anybody better to move in there and do some things for us.”

Conrad will take over shortstop duties this weekend for the Illini. But she is already familiar with the position, after playing there much of last weekend and practicing at shortstop since the injury to Davis earlier in the spring.

For Conrad, the injuries make her even more determined to give her best, especially knowing she has her teammates’ support.

“They all have confidence in me, so it’s easier to go out there when you have players on both sides of you that are awesome,” Conrad said.

Injuries aren’t the only challenge the Fighting Illini will be up against when they travel south. Illinois (5-4) faces a pair of ranked opponents in No. 21 Houston and No. 24 Texas A&M.;

Last season, the Aggies claimed the Big 12 regular season and championship titles en route to the Women’s College World Series, where they secured a second-place finish.

“It was amazing, something we’ll never forget, just the energy and all the people. You just feel it, and it makes you excited to play,” Aggies’ second baseman Natalie Villarreal said of the experience. “I don’t know how to describe it.”

Illinois will also face three un-ranked opponents on the weekend, including Northern Illinois.

The challenge for the Illini will be to play every game with an equal level of intensity.

“Nothing is handed to you on a silver platter and our expectation is that our team will perform really well and be very aggressive against any team that we play,” Sullivan said. “If you start really thinking about rankings or what people have done in the past, you tend to not be in the now, and our goal is to always be in the now, every pitch of every inning of every game.”