With nine Big Ten games down, and 14 to go, the Illinois softball team is looking for its first conference series win this weekend as it travels to Madison, Wis., to take on Wisconsin. After a tough home weekend, the Illini are hoping to combine their offense and pitching more smoothly to create consistent results.

“We just need to have our pitching and offense going at the same time,” pitcher Shelese Arnold said. “Because one day our offense is up, one day our pitching is up. So we just need to put it all together and this is the time of the season that we have to do that.”

Illinois (18-15, 2-7 Big Ten) struggled to put the two aspects together in last weekend’s series against No. 20 Nebraska, where Illinois won one game, but lost two.

“We were below our standard offensively both in the circle and really in all fields of play,” Sullivan said. “An explosive inning they had could have been prevented in many ways, many times, but we didn’t make the plays. We missed our spots. Our pitching staff has really carried us through the greater part of the season, so the rest of the team has to pick them up too. Making plays and knowing you got to score runs at this time of the year.”

In the losses, Illinois had three errors. The pitching staff allowed nine runs, six unearned, on four hits in the first loss and 12 runs on 13 hits in the second loss. Arnold struggled in the first loss with four illegal pitches.

Sullivan said when it comes to the illegal pitches, Arnold now has everything under control.

“She was a little sloppy with her feet and I think she was feeling a little sore,” Sullivan said. “And that’s something that was never called on her before as a junior with what in particular they were specifying. She’s moved on from that. She won’t have a problem with it again.”

However, the Illini used the first game and the only win of the series to demonstrate the power of putting it all together. They had a pair of four-run innings and two home runs. The pitching staff allowed only four runs off 12 hits.

It was this win that really stood out from the weekend for Arnold, Sulllivan and catcher Jenna Mychko, who all see it as a prime example of Illinois’ potential when both sides of the game unite.

“We showed that we could take the best pitchers in the country,” Mychko said. “We could hit them no problem. If our pitching is on, which it was that first game, we can defensively take any team.”

Illinois is hoping to get some consistency against Wisconsin and take a series win or ideally a sweep, Mychko said.

The Illini lead the all-time series against the Badgers (18-10), but have lost the six out of the last seven games. Wisconsin (17-13, 3-5 Big Ten) is coming off two nonconference games against North Dakota.

Working on hitting their spots and putting the ball on the corner of the plate, Illinois’s pitchers used practice this week to find a rhythm to produce consistent results.

“If they throw their game,” Sullivan said. “We’re in a real good position to have success as we have these past three weeks. We just have to get that consistency.”

Charlotte can be reached at [email protected]