VALPARAISO, Ind. – Winners of six of its last eight games, Illinois State will continue its conference road trip this weekend in Indiana when the Redbirds take on Valparaiso in a three-game set at the Valpo Softball Complex.

First pitch on Friday is scheduled for 3 p.m., followed by a 2 p.m. start on Saturday and a noon game on Sunday to wrap up the series.
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 also be streamed will live on ESPN+.

THE SERIES
The Redbirds lead the all-time series over the Beacons, 19-2, with 19 of those 21 meetings coming since Valpo joined the MVC. The Redbirds swept a three-game series over the Beacons last season at Marian Kneer Stadium, scoring a combined 26 runs in the three games.

SCOUTING THE BEACONS
•    Valpo (17-18, 6-8 MVC) suffered its first shutout in conference play on Tuesday, falling 3-0 to visiting UIC at the Valpo Softball Complex. The Beacons were blanked for just the third time this season and for the first time since a March 9 loss at Marshall.
•    The Beacons have won four of five games last week in Valley play. Valpo swept a midweek doubleheader at UIC, 3-2 and 15-3, before traveling to Bradley, where they won the first two games of the series by scores of 1-0 and 8-4 before having their five-game winning streak snapped with a 4-3 loss in the series finale.
•    Madison Vrastil leads the Beacons offense with a .392 batting average, while also leading the team in hits (47) and doubles (8). Mack Gallagher is the top run producer for Valpo, with a team-high 28 RBI and five home runs.
•    In the circle, Valpo is led by Azalya Lopez who brings a 7-10 record and a 2.87 ERA into the series against the Redbirds. She's thrown 92.2 innings, striking out 81 hitters while also recording four saves on the year.
•    Valpo head coach Mike Armitage spent three years on the coaching staff at Illinois State, spending 2019 as a volunteer assistant before being promoted to a full-time assistant for 2020 and 2021. Armitage coached alongside current ISU head coach Tina Kramos all three of those years.

REDBIRD NEWS & NOTES
•    Illinois State (13-25, 6-7 MVC) is on a roll of late, winning six of its last eight games overall.
•    Through the first nine innings of Tuesday's midweek game in Iowa City, Illinois State and Iowa were locked in a 0-0 tie thanks to strong pitching from both squads. However, the Redbirds were able to push two runs across the plate in the top half of the tenth inning and held on in the bottom half to pick up a 2-1 win over the Hawkeyes at Bob Pearl Field.
•    After being held to just one run in each of the first two games of the series at Drake, the Redbird offense exploded for a season-high 15 runs on a season-best 18 hits to pick up a 15-5 run rule victory over the Bulldogs in the finale. Ella Boyer was perfect at the plate, going 4-for-4 with 4 RBI and Bella Atkinson also drove in four runs on three hits with two runs scored in the victory.
•    The Redbirds are one of the better defensive teams in the league, boasting a .965 fielding percentage which ranks second overall behind Belmont. The Redbirds have committed the second-fewest errors in the MVC (39) 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 3.43.
•    Abby Knight leads Illinois State with a .306 batting average, while Addison Masching has recorded a team-leading 12 RBI this season along with fellow senior Bella Wilkerson. She and 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 3.05 ERA and is tied for the team lead with six wins in the circle, totaling 51 strikeouts on the season.

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

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