Illinois softball (19-26, 5-11) heads into its last away series of the season going up against Ohio State. Illinois currently has five players who will not be on the roster next season due to their senior or graduate student status.
Graduate student outfielder Kelly Ryono is one of those five players heading into her final away series. The right fielder and Illinois are trying to make a push to make the Big Ten tournament with these final six games.
“All we want to do is get out there and play,” Ryono said ahead of the series. “We’ve seen growth in ourselves as the season has gone on.”
The task ahead of them is not an easy one as they will try to stop a red-hot Ohio State. The Buckeyes have won their last seven games and sit ninth in the conference.
Ohio State has been solid at home, as the team holds a 9-2 record on its home field. Their only two losses came against Northwestern in a three-game series.
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Ohio State is led by graduate student outfielder Tegan Corteletti and senior outfielder Taylor Heckman offensively. Corteletti is currently batting .400, which is the best on the team. Heckman is second on the team at .336 but has an OPS that is higher than Corteletti at .957.
Ryono is still the offensive leader for Illinois, with a .357 batting average, 1.046 OPS and 10 home runs this year. On the mound for Illinois will be senior pitcher Tori McQueen, who is the statistical leader for all Illinois pitchers.
McQueen has an ERA of 3.18 and a WHIP of 1.20. McQueen has seen extended play recently, as she has gone a full seven innings in three of the last five games Illinois has played. The two games where she hasn’t gone seven innings were against DePaul and Purdue.
Against DePaul, McQueen came in relief for junior pitcher Lauren Wiles for one inning pitched. She still came in against Purdue as well and went six innings before being relieved. Wiles will also be on the mound this weekend and currently has a 6.30 ERA, and will get a chance to lower it this weekend.
Illinois has a losing record all-time against Ohio State going 13-27 in the program’s history. Head coach Tyra Perry is currently 3-11 during her tenure at Illinois.
The weekend series begins on Friday at 5 p.m. for game one. Games two and three are Saturday and Sunday, with both games beginning at 1 p.m.
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