Coming into Illinois softball’s home opener at Eichelberger Field on Tuesday, North Dakota State had won three in a row and 10 of its last 12 games.

That hot streak continued for the Bison, who beat Illinois 3-0 behind 10 strikeouts from pitcher Krista Menke.

North Dakota State (18-5) has been on a tour of Illinois and Indiana since Saturday, and has won four games in as many days after besting the Illini.

Menke, who leads the nation in strikeouts, was a big factor in the first three games, and showed no signs of slowing down against the Illini (8-16) on Tuesday. She threw a complete-game shutout and allowed six hits.

The Bison had one more hit than the Illini, but Illinois couldn’t string hits together and score runs. Head coach Terri Sullivan thought the Illini could’ve done better offensively, but she made sure to give credit where credit was due.

“Sometimes you have to focus on your opponent doing a great job,” Sullivan said. “Menke leads the nation in strikeouts for a reason. Every time she needed one she got it. Their team is very well coached and they are really getting after it this year.”

According to Sullivan, the Illini could have been more aggressive earlier in the count. The Illini often went deep into counts giving Menke more strikeout pitch opportunities.

The Illini offense put runners on base early in innings, but couldn’t do any damage. Sophomore infielder Alyssa Gunther had two hits off Menke, the only Illini player with multiple hits.

Gunther said the Illini did a better job keeping the game within reach on Tuesday.

“We just needed to do a better job stringing hits together on offense.” Gunther said.

Pitcher Jade Vecvanags got the nod for the Illini and went pitch-for-pitch with Menke. Vecvanags also pitched a complete game and gave up three runs on seven hits.

Vecvanags struck out seven batters, but two costly walks in the second inning led to two runs for the Bison. After adding one run in the fifth, the Bison didn’t look back.

“I definitely had more walks then I wanted to,” Vecvanags said. “But overall I think I did well. From my past performances this was a step up.”

The Bison have three players — shortstop Logan Moreland, second baseman Cheyenne Garcia and third baseman Amanda Grable — batting over .400. Vecvanags did not give up a hit in four plate appearances each to Moreland or Garcia.

While she wasn’t happy with the outcome of the game, Sullivan still thinks games like these can help the Illini.

“We made big strides today,” Sullivan said. “We had a few innings where we weren’t as aggressive defensively as we could have been, but we didn’t let it snowball on us like it has earlier in the season.”

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