Illinois softball (5-9, 0-0) will travel to St. Louis this weekend, where it will take on St. Thomas and St. Louis teams twice. The two-day tournament starts on Sunday and finishes on Monday.
The games were announced to the public on March 4 before the team came back to play its home opener. Senior utility player Abby Ryniec currently leads the team in batting average through 14 games, hitting for a .415 while also being second in OPS with a .868.
“We’re just really excited because we weren’t even supposed to play these games; they got picked up at the last minute,” Ryniec said. “So we’re just super excited to actually get games in since the first few weekends got rained out. We just need to play, so we’re really excited about that.”
This is the closest Illinois has been to playing at home thus far. The Illini have been in the South and the West Coast for the majority of the young season.
“I love traveling,” Ryniec said. “It was fun these past four weeks but a little bit exhausting. To have some local games and have our families come, that’ll be really exciting.”
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Illinois takes on St. Thomas to begin the weekend. This marks the first time the two schools have ever matched up in softball. St. Thomas is coming into this game with a 3-17 record, having last participated in the 2024 SIUE Cougar Invitational where it got its second and third win of the year against Loyola Chicago and SIUE. St. Thomas fell to Illinois State twice and Creighton in the tournament. St. Thomas is led by sophomore outfielder Avery Wukawitz, the leading hitter on the team. Wukawitz is currently hitting .345 with an OPS of 1.019.
Illinois itself looks to succeed in this tournament, having gone 2-3 in the Purple & Gold Challenge. Illinois came off the series with a 3-0 loss to San Diego State.
“The biggest thing we learned is that we can hang with anyone,” Ryniec said. “I think that we’re a really good team. We just need to stay consistent, and we’re gonna be really good. So I’m really excited to see when that comes.”
Illinois finishes off the tournament against St. Louis on Sunday and Monday. This is the first-ever meeting between the two schools. St. Louis is currently 10-5 to start the yea, having just participated in the Governor’s Classic and going 4-1 in the series. St. Louis finished the series with a 2-1 win over Austin Peay and was led by junior pitcher Taylor Hochman, who has a 1.77 ERA through 15 games.
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