The Illinois softball team kept its promise.

Shelese Arnold dominated Indiana’s offense this weekend, throwing back-to-back two-hit shutouts and helping Illinois to a three-game sweep over its conference rival, which helped the team’s Big Ten standing and ended a forgettable stretch in which it lost 13 of its 14 games.

The Illini (14-25, 4-11 Big Ten) took both games Saturday, defeating the Hoosiers (19-27, 3-13) 5-4 and 1-0.

Jessica Davis’ walk-off home run in extra innings was the difference in Saturday’s Game One for Illinois, while junior Alex Booker fell a home run short of the cycle to bolster the offense. The Illini took a 4-0 lead into the fifth inning, capitalizing on three Hoosiers errors and benefiting from two RBIs from freshman Allie Bauch; however, that was not enough. Indiana stormed back in the top of the fifth inning, scoring four runs on first-baseman Michelle Huber’s two-run home run and pitcher Brooke Boetjer’s two-run double — tying the game at 4-4.

It took one extra inning of play until Davis’ solo home run left the field and hung an Indiana comeback out to dry.

In Game Two, the Illini offense took a backseat to sophomore Arnold’s stellar pitching performance.

The sophomore threw a two-hit shutout, putting a much-needed stop to Illinois’ pitching troubles as of late — throwing six strikeouts and allowing just one walk.

Arnold said catcher junior Jenna Mychko was key to her success in the circle, keeping her confidence up and calling the right pitches to throw against a tough Indiana offense with four players batting over .300.

“The defense had my back, and I had a lot of confidence,” Arnold said.

The Illinois offense was absent from the score sheet until the bottom of the sixth inning, when freshman Remeny Perez’s solo home run put the team ahead 1-0.

Head coach Terri Sullivan decided to go with Arnold again Sunday in lieu of usual starter Pepper Gay. 

“When a pitcher’s hot, they get the ball,” Sullivan said. “And honestly I felt good about going with either one of them today, and we really believe in them both, and we had some specific goals for our pitchers this weekend, and they really delivered on them.”

The Illini dominated the Hoosiers from the first inning in that game, as Arnold threw her second shutout in 24 hours, with a two-hitter leading to 8-0 victory via mercy rule in six innings.

In the first inning, sophomore Jess Perkins launched a two-run home run over the left field fence — landing just short of the curb on Florida Avenue — to give Illinois a 2-0 lead.

Perkins said seeing players getting on base ahead of her boosted her confidence this weekend and was a wake-up call for the Illini offense.

“I knew that I needed to step up and start getting some runners in and help out my team any way possible,” Perkins said.

Davis’ RBI single in the fourth inning drove in Booker and extended the Illini lead to 3-0, but they really opened up the game in the fifth inning.

A couple of bloop singles from Mychko and freshman Katie Repole snuck past diving Hoosiers outfielders, and smart base running allowed the Illini another opportunity with runners on second and third. Sophomore Brittany Sanchez’s RBI squeeze bunt, followed by Booker’s RBI infield single put the Illini ahead of Indiana 5-0. Sanchez then scored on a throwing error by Indiana catcher Kelsey Dotson, who was trying to catch Booker stealing second, and pushed the Illini out to a 6-0 lead.

Booker had six hits, two RBIs, scored four times and stole two bases on the weekend, batting third in the lineup for the first time in her career.

“I was just trying to put the ball in play and use my God-given talent,” Booker said, pointing at her legs.

In the sixth, Illinois continued to pound the ball. Bauch’s double and a couple of Illinois walks set up a bases-loaded, no-out situation.

After sophomore Jami Schkade’s walk forced in another run to make the game 7-0, Sanchez’s knocked a bases-loaded single over left fielder Kelsey Brannon’s head, drove in another run and brought the team’s lead to 8-0, ending the game via NCAA mercy rule.

Illinois’ sweep over Indiana was the first time the team swept or won a conference series this season — and it came at the perfect time. The three victories over Indiana ended a near month-long win drought and also pushed the team up two spots in the Big Ten standings to 10th place — over Indiana and Penn State.

Head coach Terri Sullivan said the team can’t get too high in spirits after a couple of big wins and needs to continue to focus on playing good softball. 

This weekend’s victories were the first steps forward for a struggling Illinois team, but with only nine games left on the schedule and the postseason on its mind, Illinois will need wins against Iowa and Ohio State, ninth and eighth in the Big Ten, respectively, in the next two weeks if it hopes on making a climb back up the conference standings.

Sean can be reached at [email protected] and                                  @Neumannthehuman.