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COLUMBIA, Mo. – Bad weather and a listless offense made Illinois' stay at the NCAA tournament one to forget.
The third-seeded Illini were eliminated Saturday, losing to Missouri 5-1 and DePaul 6-0.
Illinois led Missouri 1-0 on Friday when rain forced tournament officials to push the game to Saturday.
"Maybe God sent the storm in for us so we could get up today and start all over again," Missouri coach Ebren Earleywine.
The Tigers scored three runs in their first two at-bats.
"We felt ready (Friday) night, but we felt ready this morning," UI coach Terri Sullivan said. "We had momentum coming in."
Hollie Pinchback and Kelley Wedel each had two hits for Illinois. Starter Monica Perry allowed seven hits and struck out two.
"It's a growing experience for her," Sullivan said. "We usually get a little more run support than that and it would have been nice to have that today."
Against DePaul, the Illini were held to three hits.
"We just didn't have any offense," Sullivan said.
Illinois finished 29-17.
"I'm proud of our team for making it to championship play," Sullivan said. "I think they belonged here and they earned it. We got a lot of great play from the young players on our team this season, so obviously that's exciting for the future. Our senior leadership helped us get back to the postseason and it's where we feel we belong."
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