Ask  beat writer Fred Kroner about the UI's NCAA chances here

MINNEAPOLIS — Illinois concluded its softball regular season with an extra-inning 2-1 win against Minnesota on Sunday.

The Illini's Big Ten finish and NCAA tournament status won't be known for another week.

"Our success this season has stemmed from all the players working hard and believing in our game plan," Illini coach Terri Sullivan said. "We learned through both losses and victories and grew a lot as a team. Our leadership got stronger from our returning players and our younger players have done an amazing job of learning what it takes to win games. When their confidence level is high and they believe in themselves, they're tough to take down.

"I don't know that we've never had a team that's had contributions from so many different people and put it all together like this at the end of the season."

Illinois, which has have a bye next weekend, can finish third through fifth in the Big Ten. At 29-15 overall and 12-7 in the Big Ten — their best conference finish since 2004 — the Illini will tune in the NCAA tournament selection show at 9 p.m. next Sunday (ESPNU) to see if they're in the field.

They completed a sweep of the Gophers by scoring an unearned run in the eighth inning, Danielle Zymkowitz racing home on Hollie Pinchback's grounder to second.

Monica Perry (24-13) worked a perfect eighth.

Perry went the distance again, allowing one earned run on five hits. She tied Amanda Fortune for the third-most single-season victories.

"Perry pitched even better than yesterday, which is hard to do against a team that's already seen you," Sullivan said. "She had fun throwing under pressure and really clamped down in the final inning."