Illinois softball (15-22) started a five-game homestand by dropping its first two games, falling to both Northwestern and Southern Illinois.
Illinois opened up their homestand against Northwestern, where they got shut out in six innings. Graduate student outfielder Kelly Ryono was the only form of offense that Illinois had, going two for three on the night. The final score was 8-0 in favor of Northwestern.
Head coach Tyra Perry recognized that the bats went quiet on the night. Illinois only had five hits compared to Northwestern’s 10.
“We weren’t very tough,” Perry said. “We worked at Maryland to get some toughness to push through some really difficult situations. We faced a really good pitcher there who was (Big Ten) Pitcher of the Week. (We) worked our plan and did a good job and today, we’re just not there.”
Junior pitcher Lauren Wiles got the nod on the mound for the night. Wiles took the loss against Northwestern dropping her record to 5-9. Northwestern got seven runs in the first four innings.
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“We’ve had some success with kind of mixing them up and then the two of them playing off of each other so that (the) lineups don’t see the same pitcher over and over,” Perry said. “We were trying to keep that general principle going, but our pitches were a little elevated today.”
In the second game, Illinois took on Southern Illinois. The results were another loss for the home team, 6-1.
The Illini had a little bit more offense against the Salukis, but it was not enough to stop them from taking a lead and holding on to it.
“This game was won by timely hits and timely plays, and that’s been an Achilles heel for us all season,” Perry said. “They will have base runners, will have people getting hits, but hits in a row — that is what wins ball games. We get hits. It’s the timely hits that take a lot of guts that we’re not getting.”
Freshman infielder Adisyn Caryl and senior infielder Megan Ward got on the bag today trying to spark something for Illinois. It was senior utility player Abby Ryniec who would answer the call, driving in an RBI single for Illinois’ only score of the game.
“She was trying to pitch me outside, that’s what I was looking for,” Ryniec said. “But she fell behind in count. I just was trying to swing as hard as I could.”
Senior pitcher Tori Mcqueen got the game-two nod and dropped her record to 8-10. Mcqueen got hit off 12 times for six runs.
Illinois continues its home stretch against Purdue this weekend for a three-game series.
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