It wasn’t just the seniors who came up big on Senior Day.

Senior Jessica Davis stepped into the batter’s box for the Illinois softball team in the bottom of the seventh inning Sunday evening for what will be her last home at-bat as an Illini.

In the second game of a double header in which Ohio State took the first game, Davis looked to get on base. She was the go-ahead run.

“I was just thinking I needed to start it,” Davis said. “I was thinking I needed to get on base because it’s contagious, and I knew what our team was capable of.”

Davis hit a single into short left field. Three batters later, freshman Katie Repole came to the plate. Repole thought to herself that all she needed to do was get it out of the infield.

Her thoughts became reality a few pitches later when she hit a single into left field, scoring Davis and giving senior pitcher Pepper Gay her final win at home on Senior Day.

“When I came to the plate I was just like: ‘We gotta do it for Pepper,’” Repole said. “She just threw too well not to get one run for her.”

With the win, the Illini clinched the sixth seed in the Big Ten Tournament and gave their seniors a memorable last game. Repole said the seniors were a great group and she couldn’t be more thankful to have had them in her first year on the team to help show her the way.

Gay threw three complete games on the weekend, starting Friday in a game where the Illini came back from a 4-0 deficit to win 6-4. Illinois gave up a run in the top of the third and three more in the top of the fourth before coming back with one, two and three run innings in the fourth, fifth and sixth innings, respectively, to win the game.

“I think we’re confident at the plate,” Davis said. “We’re seeing the ball well and we’re driving it. I think that’s something we’re very talented at and now it’s showing and we’re going to go into the Big Ten tournament with real hot bats.”

Illinois’ bats cooled down in the second and third games of the series, which had to be played as a double header Sunday due to a rainout on Saturday. The Illini tallied six hits in the first game, double that of the Buckeyes but walked in three runs and had two errors in the fourth. They would lose the game 3-0.

“The first game (of the doubleheader), I was really upset with myself because they only scored off of the walks,” Gay said. “I took it upon myself; that was my loss. In the second game, I came out and let my defense work, they made really great plays in the field, and I was happy to come out with a win.”

After throwing 192 pitches in the first game, Gay got the nod to start the second game of the doubleheader as well and threw 109 more pitches, giving up just one hit and no runs.

The Illini were scoreless until the seventh when they finally drove in a run to win the game. Gay said that she was honored to have been able to pitch for the Illini and was extremely proud of her team for fighting its way back to the sixth spot in the Big Ten.

“Pepper limited a good offensive team to not many opportunities, and we came up with some big defensive plays when we had to,” head coach Terri Sullivan said. “We weren’t really at our best offensively today, but sometimes you have to win when you’re not at your complete best.” 

Although this weekend’s loss to the Buckeyes meant the end of the Illini’s 10-game win streak, Repole still said the team is playing fantastic and that they’re ready to play in any situation after having been through so many this season.

“We started from the bottom and we climbed our way back up and we fought,” Davis said. “It’s definitely not the best spot, but we’re pleased with our performance and we’re going in the tournament hot, so I think we’ll be the underdogs and I think we’ll upset a lot of teams.”

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