Despite a 1-4 start in Orlando last week and a tough loss to Mercer (5-3) Thursday night, Illinois (4-5) was unfazed and ended the week in Nashville positively. The Illini dominantly won three out of four games at the Roar City Invitational.
Illinois originally had five games on the docket, but the schedule was adjusted before the tournament even began. The team canceled its Sunday game and moved the start of the slate up to Thursday. Eventually, the tournament was cut short after just two days.
Sunny moments in Nashville
Illinois seems to be getting its bats going slowly but surely. The team scored seven or more runs in all three wins this week. Sophomore infielder Eileen Donahue had herself a game, batting cleanup in the 9-2 win against Tennessee State (4-4). She crushed the first Illini home run of the season on top of going 3-for-4 with three RBI.
Home runs were the theme of the first two innings, as senior catcher Paige Berkmeyer also went yard. Then, sophomore infielder Adisyn Caryl walked off Friday’s nightcap against Quinnipiac (0-2) with a walk-off grand slam in the eighth.
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A problem for Illinois in Orlando was its slow start and failure to hit with runners on base. This time around, the Illini scored at least one run in the first inning of every game. A hot first inning led to an 8-0 run-rule victory against Stony Brook (1-6) on Friday.
Senior pitcher Lauren Wiles found her stride this weekend. She surrendered just two runs and seven hits in 11 innings pitched, striking out eight. Freshman pitcher Danika Frazier threw eight great innings of her own on the weekend. She allowed just two runs, displaying her worth to the roster. However, the Illini are still trying to find more consistency with their depth in the circle.
Cloudy plays of the tournament
Junior pitcher and utility player Karley Yergler got the ball against Mercer and had a rough outing. She conceded eight hits and runs each; her night ended after 3.1 innings. The next day, Yergler gave up just one hit and one run in relief against Quinnipiac.
The Illini defense tried to clean up the errors but still committed four on the weekend, all on Thursday. This is an improvement from the eight errors last weekend, but the young team still has room for improvement after just its second weekend together this season.
Thunder rumbles on the field
Illinois is still prone to leaving runners on base, stranding 28 throughout the weekend. A 7-3 extra-inning victory over Quinnipiac could’ve been bigger if Illinois had brought home a few of the six runners left on the base paths. Even though the Illini found ways to win despite this, they still have room to improve with runners on base.
This is an improvement from Orlando, where the Illini stranded 35 runners. Nevertheless, leaving that many runners on base can cost any team a game, and it did. Illinois failed to bring 11 baserunners home against Mercer and lost by five runs.
Illinois is just nine games into a 52-game slate and is still several weeks from Big Ten competition. The young roster must continue to build chemistry and fine-tune issues before facing conference opponents. The Roar City Invitational was a solid weekend overall and a step in the right direction for a group eager to improve on last year.
