The University of Illinois Springfield softball team hits the road for the final week of the regular season. The Prairie Stars are at Missouri S&T on Saturday afternoon, followed by a doubleheader date with Drury on Sunday.
 
UIS enters play this week with a 31-14 overall record. It is currently tied with Missouri-St. Louis for the fifth spot in the league standings at 15-9. The Prairie Stars would need to move in front of the Tritons in order to get the fifth seed in the league tournament, with the Tritons having the tiebreaker edge.
 
UIS went 3-1 last weekend, and is now 11-1 in its last six GLVC series. The Prairie Stars split with Rockhurst, and then swept Southwest Baptist.
 
Besides GLVC Tournament seeding, every game is important for UIS in terms of a possible NCAA Regional bid. UIS was ranked ninth in the first official regional poll of the year, right behind Missouri-St. Louis. The three conference automatic bids and five at-large bids will advance to the NCAA postseason.
 
UIS has several records that could fall this week. Carly Chovanec enters play with 49 runs and 47 stolen bases this season. She is currently tied for the school's single-season base stealing mark, and needs three runs to become the sole record holder for single-season runs. Danielle Dennis is currently tied for the school record with 40 RBI this year. She is also on double away from tying the school's career mark in that category.
 
As a team, UIS enters play this week ranked third in the GLVC with nearly six runs a game, and it is sixth with a 3.03 ERA. The Prairie Stars are fourth nationally with 144 stolen bases.
  
UIS vs. Missouri S&T
Date/Time/Location: Saturday, April 30, 12:00 p.m. – Rolla, Mo.
Live Stats: http://www.sidearmstats.com/mst/softball
Streaming: https://glvcsn.com/mst/
All-Time Series (Since 2011): UIS leads 20-7

Missouri S&T enters play this week with a 21-25 overall record, and a 9-15 conference mark. The Miners are still in the mix for the eighth and final spot in the GLVC Tournament.
 
The Miners are just 1-7 over their last eight GLVC contests. Last weekend, they were swept on the road by nationally-ranked Indianapolis and Southern Indiana.
 
Missouri S&T is batting .270 as a team, and is averaging 3.5 runs a game. The Miners' pitchers have a 4.34 ERA.
 
Hannah Antzoulatos leads the offense with 31 runs, 23 RBI, and a .599 slugging percentage. Shannon Flowers is the team's home run leader with six, and she has a team-best 35 RBI. Bryn Wooldridge is the team's ace, winning 11 games and having a 3.54 ERA.
 
Last season in Springfield, UIS swept a doubleheader with Missouri S&T by scores of 4-0 and 12-4.
 
UIS vs. Drury
Date/Time/Location: Sunday, May 1, 12:00 p.m. – Springfield, Mo.
Live Stats: https://drurypanthers.com/sidearmstats/softball/summary
Live Stats: https://www.glvcsn.com/drury/
All-Time Series (Since 2011): UIS leads 14-11

Drury is currently in fourth place in the GLVC standings with an 18-6 record, three games ahead of UIS and Missouri-St. Louis. The Panthers are 32-13 on the season, and ranked fourth in the first regional poll.
 
The Panthers are led by their pitching which has a 2.02 ERA, and they have struck out 309 batters in less than 305 innings. Opponents are batting just .211 off of them. Offensively, Drury is batting .300 for the year, and averaging 4.9 runs a game.
 
Kristina Bettis has won 20 of the team's 32 games. She has a 1.35 and 0.95 WHIP. She has allowed just 92 hits in 165 1/3 innings, and struck out 218 batters in that span. Offensively, the team is balanced with six regulars batting over .315. Lauren Beier leads with 32 runs and 28 RBI.
 
Last season in Springfield, Ill., UIS split a two-game doubleheader against Drury. The Panthers won the first game by a 7-4 margin, and UIS bounced back with an 8-1 victory in game two.

Up Next
The GLVC Tournament field will be announced at the conclusion of all of the tournament schedule. The event takes place on May 5-8 in East Peoria, Ill.