The University of Illinois Springfield softball team will travel to the Kansas City area for conference doubleheaders against William Jewell and Rockhurst. The Prairie Stars play the Cardinals on Saturday with a doubleheader starting at 12:00 p.m., followed by a doubleheader against the Hawks on Sunday which also starts at 12:00 p.m.
UIS (23-19, 7-7)
The Prairie Stars had six games over the past four days, with four of those being conference contests. UIS went 2-2 in their four conference games and 0-2 in their non-conference games on Tuesday afternoon.
UIS earned a sweep against Southwest Baptist with some late-inning heroics in both games. UIS won the first game of the series 3-1 and the second game 5-3. In the second game, UIS scored five runs in the sixth inning to take the lead and earn the win. On Sunday against Drury, the Prairie Stars struggled to string together hits as they dropped both games without scoring a run. The Panthers won 10-0 and 5-0 in two quickfire games. On Tuesday afternoon the Stars took on Missouri Western State at the UIS Softball Field. MWSU was able to win both games, by scores of 7-5 and 9-0. In Game One UIS battled the entire way and had runners on second and third with two outs in the bottom of the seventh inning. A ground ball was left by the Griffon shortstop as both runners were in motion towards home. An umpire meeting determined that Adi Rumler was out after interfering with the shortstop playing the ball and the game was ended. Game Two of the day was all Missouri Western as they scored all their runs in the third and fourth inning to earn a commanding win.
The Stars are 2-2 on the road this season. UIS is hitting .291 as a team while scoring 201 runs. Four Stars currently hold a batting average above .300, led by Ella Brinkley with a .397 average. UIS' pitching staff currently holds a 3.83 ERA while allowing 157 earned runs. Opponents have a .350 batting average against the Prairie Star pitchers. Both Alexis Carroll and Rosie Bartletti have 7 wins on the year.
William Jewell (19-23, 2-14)
The Cardinals lost all four of their games this weekend in their travels to Upper Iowa and Truman State. Jewell dropped both games against Upper Iowa by scores of 9-3 and 2-1 Early runs weren't enough for the Cardinals to hold on as UIU responded in both games to secure the win. Truman State was able to take both games from William Jewell with early runs of their own. TSU won 9-4 and 5-1 to cap a disappointing weekend for the Cardinals.
The Cardinals are 13-7 at home this year. Jewell is hitting .241 as a team while scoring 124 runs. Sabrina Olmo leads the Cardinals with a .341 batting average, 9 RBIs, and 24 runs scored. William Jewell's pitching staff currently holds a 3.50 ERA while allowing 140 earned runs. Opponents have a .298 batting average against the Cardinal pitchers. Avrey Reynolds is 9-11 in the circle, while Olivia Wood is 7-7.
Rockhurst (11-19, 6-10)
The Hawks went 3-1 this past weekend during their series split with Truman State and earned a sweep of Upper Iowa. Against Truman State, RU's pitchers were solid the entirety of both games. TSU was able to take Game One 1-0, but some late inning offense from Rockhurst pushed the Hawks to a 4-1 win in Game Two. RU earned two more wins on the weekend against Upper Iowa, 2-0 and 7-5. Emily Berry's four RBIs guided the Hawks to a win in Game Two against the Peacocks.
The Hawks are 3-5 on their home field this season. Rockhurst is hitting .218 as a team while scoring 78 runs. Emily Berry (.322) and Maya Gallagher (.309) are RU's top hitters. Rockhurst's pitching staff currently holds a 4.10 ERA while allowing 118 earned runs. Opponents have a .300 batting average against the RU pitchers. Avery Huffman (6-9) has the most wins, best ERA (3.54), and most strikeouts (61) on the Rockhurst team.
How to Follow
Every conference game of the 2024 season will be streamed on GLVCSN and will have live stats that you can follow. Both the stream and live stat link can be found in the Softball section on the UIS Athletics website.