...that Monica Perry can pitch?  The freshman from McDonough, Georgia fired a two-hit shutout last night against the Bradley Braves in a 4-0 Illini victory.  Perry is now 17-8 on the season, and lowered her season ERA to 3.43.  She also finished with a flourish, striking out the side in the top of the seventh, to finish with nine strikeouts on the evening.

You'll hear coaches, including Illinois' Terri Sullivan talk about pitchers not focusing on strikeouts and pitching to contact.  There certainly is something to that, as when pitchers worry about striking everyone out, they often fail to pitch in the strike zone, falling behind hitters and letting them focus on just hitting the fastball.  However, one thing that's been missing from the Illini pitching staff the past several years is a bonafide strikeout pitcher.  Perry fits the bill here.  After last night's performance, she has now struck out 160 batters in 163.1 innings.  To contrast, last year's leader in innings pitched, Claire DeVreese, struck out just 146 batters in 223 innings.  Two years ago, Vicky Brown struck out only 97 opponents in 165.2 innings pitched. 

Despite high-powered offenses the last two seasons, the Illini failed to reach the NCAA tournament.  The missing ingredient to those teams was pitching.  I don't think it's a coincidence that despite an offense that doesn't have power hitters like Angelena Mexicano and Jenna Hall, this team has a sparkling 22-10 record and is currently in very good position to earn a tournament bid for the first time in five years.  The 2004 Illini squad had great pitching in Amanda Fortune, and it looks like Perry may be the pitcher they need to lead them back to the postseason in 2009.

One other note today...sophomore Danielle Zymkowitz will be featured in the next issue of Sports Illustrated.  The standout second basemen will appear in SI's "Faces in the Crowd" section in the April 13 issue.  Zymkowitz is batting .445 with an on-base percentage of .508 in the leadoff spot for the Illini this season.

Illinois is in Columbus, Ohio tomorrow and Sunday to take on the #17 Ohio State Buckeyes.  Both games are scheduled to begin at 1 pm.  The third place Illini (5-2) are just 1 1/2 games behind second place Ohio State (7-1) in the Big Ten standings.  Perennial power Northwestern is in first place with a 9-1 conference mark.  The Illini will host the Wildcats in two weeks at Eichelberger Field.  Thanks for reading.

bmoline@wdws.com