It was a busy weekend on the Illinois athletics campus last weekend.

The Illini hosted the spring football scrimmage, a baseball series, a women’s tennis match and a track and field meet. The softball team, however, was not to be outdone, hosting the 12th annual World’s Largest Softball Tailgate .

The University did not release the attendance figure on the tailgate — 976 people attended the games that followed — but traditionally the event attracts an average of about 1,000 .

The event started in 2004 as a way to get more people to attend one of the up-and-coming sports at the university, and since then has grown into one of the biggest athletic events of the spring for players and for fans .

“We don’t actually do anything with the tailgate,” sophomore Nicole Evans said. “We always say it is for the fans, but it is really cool. It gives the fans a lot of energy.”

While the softball team doesn’t necessarily partake in the event, other athletes do. The Illinois basketball team stopped by the tailgate and served snow cones to fans.

There was a doubleheader on the day of the tailgate this year, and most of the fans stayed for both games. When the second game ended, the tailgating continued. Immediately after the final out, the fans went back out to the lot and started grilling and playing yard games .

Vecvanags raking in decisions

Sophomore Jade Vecvanags has taken over as the top pitcher in the Illinois pitching staff.

To put it in perspective, Vecvanags has gotten the team’s decision in the last 18 games.

The staff has two other starting pitchers – senior Shelese Arnold and sophomore Breanna Wonderly – but since the conference season has started, Vecvanags has taken on most of the innings .

Vecvanags has a 14-9 record with a 4.90 ERA on the season . She missed part of the beginning of the season due to a concussion, which she said took her out of her rhythm.

Now, Vecvanags looks to be in top form. She has pitched 11 complete games this season, and a total of 121 1/3 innings , the next closest is Arnold with 75 1/3 .

Head coach Terri Sullivan has not hesitated to give her top pitcher a heavy workload.

“When you have the hot hand you get the ball. That’s how this works,” Sullivan said. “She has been pitching her best stuff, and she is being rewarded for playing so well.”

Just short of a record

Going into the first game of Saturday’s doubleheader, Illinois had a streak of 13 consecutive games of at least one batter hitting a home run.

The Illini topped the Badgers 5-3 , but did not hit a home run, ending the streak one game short of the record set in 2007.

But there was some dispute to the end of the near record-setting stretch. In the bottom of the sixth inning, senior Jess Perkins roped a ball down the left field line that cleared the foul pole. Illinois player and fans thought the ball was fair, but the third base umpire called it foul.

In the end, it had no effect on the game — Sullivan didn’t know her team was on a record setting pace.

“We let (the media) handle the records,” Sullivan said. “It is fun to follow, but we just focused on fighting hard to win this game.”

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