The Illinois softball team ended its second-to-last home series with an overall record of 20-12. Though they didn’t win the series, the Illini persisted with diligence and perseverance. The team took the first game of each doubleheader — 7-5 Friday and 2-0 Sunday — while dropping the second — 7-2 Friday and 1-0 Sunday.

The team fought hard this weekend, as they were determined to finish what they started. They looked adversity in the eye and strove to overcome competitive obstacles that stood in their way. The Illini are near the end, and their drive to come out on top grows with each passing day. 

“Throughout the two games on Friday, we realized that we had a lot of adversity that we faced. On Sunday, we really didn’t feel that adversity,” senior Shelby Stauffenberg said. “We talked about it in the huddle (after Sunday’s game), how we really stuck to our plan in terms of how we can overcome that adversity. I think the biggest thing we realized is that the pressure was always on us, and it shouldn’t be that way.”

During game one Friday, junior Avrey Steiner went 2-for-3 with a run batted in at the plate, while Sydney Sickels picked up her 11th win of the season in the circle. Sickels finished out the game, going seven innings while giving up five earned runs and four hits and striking out 11.

Stauffenberg and senior Bella Loya hit doubles in the bottom of the second, contributing to the four runs added with five hits. Sophomores Kelly Ryono and Gabi Robles helped get the Illini the lead with a sacrifice fly by Ryono and a single by Robles. 

Game two, Loya opened the scoring with a solo home run, her third four-bagger of the season. Junior Addy Jarvis started in the circle, throwing 4.2 innings while giving up three earned runs on four hits. Freshman Tori McQueen, sophomore Morgan Scivally and graduate student Kelsie Packard all entered as relief pitchers for the Illini. 

“Mentally as a team, we’ve worked really hard to get to this spot,” Stauffenberg said. “Our preparation before Indiana really focused on our mental game. Our coaches are really good at mentally preparing the team for any situation that is thrown at us.”

With a day off between the two doubleheaders, the Illini attempted to finish the series with triumphant energy. The Illini were able to sweep the Hoosiers in game one, while game two, conversely, Indiana didn’t allow Illinois onto the board. 

The Illini exhibited powerful pitching performances during Sunday’s doubleheader. Sickels, currently 11-2, pitched her 11th complete game of the season, allowing no runs and six hits. 

Jarvis was dominant in the circle as well, as she threw a complete game while allowing just one run. She saw her eighth start of the season during game two, as she threw a complete game three-hitter and allowed one run while striking out four.

In game one, freshman Lakyn Wagoner and Loya both had multi-hit games, picking up the two Illini RBIs. For game two, junior Kailee Powell led the Illini offensively, going 2-for-3 at the plate, while Steiner, Ryono and sophomore Delaney Rummell each added base hits. 

“This weekend we might not have gotten the outcomes that we wanted for two of the games, but we made progress on having high energy, realizing that that’s what we feed off of,” Stauffenberg said.

Illinois will be back on the road next weekend for a four-game series at Northwestern. The Wildcats currently sit with a record of 22-10. The Illini are up for the challenge and ready to leave their mark. The first game of the series is Friday, with first pitch at 3 p.m. central time. 

After playing 32 games, there are only three more series left in the season before the 2021 NCAA softball tournament. The Illini have taken the physical and mental factors they have faced and are determined to overcome the pressures put on themselves, directing that energy toward future wins. 

“(A takeaway from this series) would be having fun, playing free and not always having that pressure on us,” Stauffenberg said. “I think we overcame that from Friday to Sunday. We always say softball is our job, just like every other person has a job. But we realized that with our job, it’s also OK to have fun.”

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