Heading into its second tournament of the season, the Hilton Houston Plaza Invite, the Illinois softball team was still looking to find what it was missing in its first: consistency. The Illini looked good in their wins against DePaul and Houston, but struggled against No. 6 Texas.

“We need to improve on being consistent all the way around throughout the whole game,” pitcher Pepper Gay said. “We need to work on just finishing every game strong and winning the last four innings so we don’t keep giving up runs at the end of games.”

The Illini started their weekend Friday against Texas in what most would call a pitchers duel. Neither side allowed a hit until the third, but the Longhorns eventually capitalized on eight walks given up by Gay in the complete game and went on to win 3-0.

“I think I got better as the weekend went on,” Gay said. “On Friday, I didn’t have as much control over the ball, I gave up too many walks and I didn’t make them earn their bases. Today, I tried to work on that and I think I did a better job.”

In their second game of the day, the Illini played Houston, which scored in all but one inning, eventually beating Illinois 8-1. The storyline of the game was missed opportunities, as the Orange and Blue left 12 base runners on in the game. Sophomores Brittany Sanchez and Jess Perkins both went 2-for-3 for the Illini but couldn’t help the team pull out the victory.

In its first game on Saturday, Illinois came out swinging. The Illini scored four early runs and stranded 10 DePaul runners on base to come away with the 4-1 victory. Perkins scored a run and Gay pitched her second complete game in as many days, as Illinois got its first tournament win.

“DePaul was a must-win as well and obviously it’s a big game between our two teams and we had to fight really hard but we came away with a win there,” head coach Terri Sullivan said.

“Coach said, ‘You don’t lose that many back-to-back,’ so we went in not accepting anything less than a win and we came out with a win,” Perkins added.

In its second game of the day, Illinois took on Texas once again and took the lead early. The Illini led the Longhorns 2-0 until the sixth inning, when Texas exploded for 12 runs, a gap the Illini couldn’t make up.

“I think we didn’t play the best that we could have, we just didn’t finish the game, I think we need to work on that,” Gay said.

Sullivan agreed.

“We took a punch in our second game against Texas, and we didn’t respond well after that,” she said.

Illinois saved its best game for last, as it again beat Houston 7-5 to finish the tournament. Perkins came up big for the Illini, going 2-for-3 with a solo home run and a walk in the game, and Gay pitched her third straight complete game, giving up four hits and recording seven strikeouts.

“The highlight is that today we did a much better job taking punches and then giving them back,” Sullivan said. ”I think that’s important for a team to learn and to carry through the season at this level. At the start of the weekend we took a couple hits and didn’t respond well, so we told the team, we demanded them to be mentally tougher and end on a high note and we had that type of effort for seven innings.”

Nicholas can be reached [email protected] and @IlliniSportsGuy.