Facing a collection of unranked teams this weekend, Illinois head coach Terri Sullivan’s softball team hopes to emerge undefeated at the Adidas Invitational Tournament in Rock Hill, S.C.

The Illini will play on Friday and Saturday with games against the University of North Carolina-Wilmington, North Florida, Syracuse and Winthrop University.

While statistics may put the Orange and Blue on top, Sullivan is careful not to underestimate any competition.

“Other people might say that we’re the team to beat, but one thing I know about statistics is that you can throw them out the window when you actually get out there on the field. The coaches might study them, but players don’t,” Sullivan said.

Sullivan did not let up on her team in practice this week, although the statistics of this weekend’s opponents do not compare to the ranked teams Illinois (13-7) has recently faced.

“We did a lot of extra hitting with some players on our team, and we’re obviously looking for that to pay off individually in the batter’s box, but our team defense is always something we’re looking to improve on,” Sullivan said. “We really have to attack the ball and actually become offensive on defense.”

Coming off of a 6-5 win against No. 18 Southern Illinois, freshman pitcher Monica Perry does not plan to let her guard down on any level.

“This week in practice, I’ve just been focusing on my weaknesses and improving them to the best of my ability, just as I would to prepare for one of our biggest games of the season,” Perry said. “My off-speed pitch was something I definitely needed to work on, but I think I did that pretty well in practice this week.”

On the offensive end, second baseman Danielle Zymkowitz stressed the importance of a quick start – something the Illini struggled with against SIU.

“Last weekend, we had a freshman step up in extra innings, so seeing her hit makes everyone else want to hit too. Hitting’s contagious on this team, so if one person is hitting, so is everyone else,” Zymkowitz said. “This weekend, hopefully we can get on base first, so the contagion can come out early and we can put some runs across before the other team does.”

Zymkowitz leads the team offensively at the top spot in the batting order with a .444 batting average. She does not take all of the credit for her team’s success in the batter’s box.

“If I get on base, I just know that my team’s going to score me,” Zymkowitz said. “We have girls doing their jobs, moving runners and hitting key sacrifice fly outs for RBIs. While not everyone’s batting averages are high, we’re just focusing on playing as a team and scrapping runs together. It doesn’t really matter what the stats say.”

Sullivan refuses to lower expectations for her squad and hopes that it can come out on top by focusing solely on its own goals.

“It’s really the same preparation as when I’ve been getting the girls ready to play games against ranked teams, such as the No. 1 team in the country or last weekend’s No. 18 team,” Sullivan said. “We really have to have one goal, and that’s to win our next game by playing our personal best.”