While head coach Terri Sullivan’s Illinois softball team fell to No. 16 Ohio State twice last weekend, the Illini hope to stay above .500 in Big Ten play in a doubleheader Wednesday against Indiana But the team’s play still needs some fine tuning.

“We need to continue to separate offense and defense, but we have to be consistent on both ends at this time of year to win ball games,” Sullivan said.

While Indiana (7-28, 3-7) may not have the strongest record, Sullivan knows numbers can be deceiving. Statistics cannot play a role in how the Orange and Blue prepare to play the Hoosiers.

“There is really no weak team in conference at this point. Indiana’s record isn’t slated as high as Sunday’s opponent was, but they’ve been in a lot of close contests,” Sullivan said.

Sophomore second baseman Danielle Zymkowitz hopes working mostly on ground balls in practice will help solidify the team’s defense.

“Grounders, and charging the ball and being aggressive on defense are the main thing. Hopefully, once we improve at these basics, we can back up our offense with solid outs,” Zymkowitz said.

Offensively, the Illini hope to continue the strength they showed in the box against Ohio State last weekend.

Left fielder Hollie Pinchback set a school record for hits in a game, going 5-for-5 in Sunday’s contest. The sophomore is focusing on keeping up her high level of play and avoiding a regression at the plate.

“I’m going to work on continuing to see the ball and driving it into the gaps just to help out the team and get the runs across,” Pinchback said.

Sullivan hopes that the Illini (22-12, 5-4) will keep their hitting spread throughout the lineup and the course of the game.

“What I want to see from our team is the type of passion they had at the plate Sunday, the type of aggressiveness they had. We have to make routine plays, and we need to do both to come out on top,” Sullivan said.

The Orange and Blue said they won’t be satisfied with any number of runs on the scoreboard against the Hoosiers.

“I would definitely say against Indiana we need to keep in mind that you can never settle on the runs you have. You never are sure if the runs you have are enough. You need to push to get more and more across,” Pinchback said.