Moline's Musings

Softball at EIU Cancelled

Posted by: Brian Moline

Tuesday, April 21, 2009 3:28 PM

This won't come as any surprise to those of you who have been outside today, but the Illinois softball game at Eastern Illinois scheduled for 6 pm tonight has been cancelled.  It is unlikely that this game will be made up, as it's a nonconference game late in the regular season.  The Illini were hoping to bounce back tonight against the Panthers after being swept by #8 Michigan over the weekend.

Even after the losses last weekend, Illinois is still in the thick of things in the Big Ten conference race.  The Illini are currently by themselves in fifth place with a 7-6 conference mark.  They're one half game behind Iowa, who is 7-5, and one half game ahead of Purdue, who is 6-6.  The Illini have a doubleheader coming up against the Boilermakers in West Lafayette next Wednesday 4/29 before closing the season in Minneapolis against the Golden Gophers on Saturday May 2 and Sunday May 3.  The Gophers are currently 7th in the league with a 5-7 record.

Here's a bit of softball recruiting news.  You may have seen last month that Terri Sullivan had received a verbal commitment from center fielder Alex Booker of Gurnee Warren.  The Illini also have a verbal commitment for a player in the class of 2011.  I received an e-mail from the father of second baseman Jami Schkade of Albany, Texas that she has verbally committed to play for Sullivan and the Illini.  Here is the text of the e-mail:

We are pleased to announce that Jami Schkade has committed to play
softball for Coach Terri Sullivan and the University of Illinois. Jami
is a sophomore attending Albany High School in Albany, Tx. She played
her freshman year at Klein Oak High School in Spring, Tx where she
started at 2B and helped the Klein Oak Panthers to a 25-2 record and a
trip to the class 5-A quarterfinals.

Jami plays select ball for Impact Gold in Spring, Tx where they recently
finished 9th place at ASA Gold Nationals in Oklahoma City, OK. Prior
to joining Impact Gold, Jami played 7 years of select ball with Hit Away
and Sudden Impact where she helped her teams qualify for Nationals each
year while never finishing outside the top 25 .

The Illini have so far signed three players in the 2009 class, two of them pitchers.  The first is, like current freshman Monica Perry, from the state of Georgia.  Pepper Gay struck out a whopping 304 batters in just 149 innings for St. Pius X Catholic High School in Atlanta last season.  The second is Jackie Guy of Orange Lutheran High School in Buena Park, California, who held opponents to a .178 batting average last year.  The third member of the class is Stephanie Cuevas of Sylmar, California, a catcher and utility player.

The Illini wrap up the home portion of their schedule this weeekend when they host #10 Northwestern for a pair of games this weekend.  Saturday's game is scheduled to start at 5 pm, and Sunday's Senior Day matchup gets underway at 2 pm.  The Wildcats are in second place in the Big Ten with an 11-2 record, just one half game behind Ohio State.  Thanks for reading.

bmoline@wdws.com

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