NORMAL, Ill. – The friendly confines of Marian Kneer Stadium will play host to this weekend's softball series between Illinois State and Missouri State, as the Redbirds begin a seven-game homestand with a three-game set against the Bears. 

The series is set to begin on Thursday at 5 p.m., with a game on Friday also scheduled for 5 p.m. A 2 p.m. contest on Saturday will wrap up the series between the two squads. Live stats for each game will be available via StatBroadcast and links can be found on the softball schedule page on GoRedbirds.com. All three games will be streamed live on ESPN+.

THE SERIES
Illinois State leads the all-time series between the two programs, 70-48. The two teams last met during the 2024 season, when the Bears took two out of three games against the Redbirds in Springfield, Mo. Overall, Missouri State has won seven of the last ten contests against the Redbirds. 

SCOUTING THE BEARS
•    Missouri State (13-28, 11-7 MVC) is amid a 15-game span running from March 27 to April 19 that features 14 road games, including the three this weekend against the Redbirds in Normal. As the schedule stands currently, MoState is set to finish the regular season with 17 of its last 22 games played away from home. 
•    The Bears currently sit in fourth place in the MVC regular-season standings with an 11-7 league record. In MVC games this season, MoState ranks first in fielding percentage (.971), third in team ERA (2.53) and fifth in team batting average (.296). 
•    The Bears were in action on Tuesday night in Lawrence, Kansas, as they fell by a score of 8-0 in six innings on the road to the Kansas Jayhawks. Chloe Merced, Halle Studer and Riley Baber accounted for MoState's three hits on the evening.
•    Across the last two weeks, Makenzi Swick has made seven appearances in the circle for the Bears, owning a 0.28 ERA with a 1-2 record and one save. In that span, she has tossed a team-high 25.0 innings and allowed just one earned run (eight total runs) while striking out 16 batters.
•    McKensie Vaughan belted her 28th career home run in the series finale at Indiana State to move into second place in program history in career homers. She trails only her former teammate Olivia Krehbiel, who broke the record last season with 31 career home runs. Vaughan also leads the team this season with 33 RBI and nine home runs.

REDBIRD NEWS & NOTES
•    Illinois State (16-25, 9-7 MVC) has been one of the hottest teams in the MVC, winning its last five games in a row and eight of its last ten overall.
•    The Redbirds are coming off a perfect 4-0 week, thanks to a 2-1 win in 10 innings at Iowa last Tuesday and a weekend series sweep at Valparaiso. 
•    ISU is one of the better defensive teams in the league, boasting a .967 fielding percentage which ranks second overall behind Belmont. The Redbirds have committed the second-fewest errors in the MVC (40) and are tied for the Valley lead in double plays turned (14). Illinois State pitching has also been solid, as the Redbirds rank third in the Valley in team ERA at 3.27.
•    Senior Delainey Bryant is on the verge of several career milestones this weekend, as she needs to play in just one game to reach 200 in her career and is just three hits away from 200 in her career. Bryant is also just 5 RBI away from getting to 100 in her illustrious career at Illinois State.
•    Senior Abby Knight leads Illinois State with a .323 batting average on a team-high 43 hits, while Addison Masching has recorded a team-leading 14 RBI this season. She and Ella Boyer are the only two players on the roster with 4-hit games this season.
•    Hannah Meshnick, who picked up the save in Tuesday night's win at Iowa, leads the Redbird pitching staff with a 2.85 ERA and eight wins in the circle, totaling 64 strikeouts on the season. Meshnick went 2-0 over the weekend against Valpo, with one complete game win and a career-high eight strikeouts on Sunday.

For updates on Illinois State Softball, follow the Redbirds on Twitter (@RedbirdsSB), Instagram (@redbirdsoftball), and Facebook (Illinois State Redbird Softball).

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