Illini Softball Advances To Regional Final

The Illini softball team survived an elimination game Saturday afternoon against Marshall to advance to the NCAA Regional Final against Kentucky.

Illinois never trailed in a 10-2 win over the Thundering Herd after falling to the host, #14 seed Kentucky, 1-0 earlier in the day.

Center fielder Kiana Sherlund had three hits in the victory over Marshall, and fellow outfielder Nicole Evans hit a two-run homerun to start the scoring.

Breanna Wonderly pitched two shutout innings, before being replaced in the circle by Erin Walker. The Illini had already built an 8-0 lead at that point.

In the first game of the day, Kentucky edged Illinois 1-0. Wonderly went the distance in that game, allowing just one run on three hits and three walks. Kentucky scored the only run of the game on a sacrifice fly in the fourth inning.

In the first three games of regional play, Wonderly has pitched 20 innings, and allowed just three runs, including pitching all 12 innings in the Illini's 3-2 win over Marshall to open the regional on Friday.

The Illini and Wildcats will play for the regional championship Sunday at 11:00am central time. If Illinois wins, they would play Kentucky again at 1:30pm. Kentucky has yet to lose a game in the double-elimination tournament. The winner advances to a best-of-three super regional next weekend.