Friday, April 11
Champaign, Ill.
8:30 PM ET
Michigan State University
at
Illinois
Photo by: Erica Lee
B1G Action Resumes for Softball at Illinois
4/9/2025 11:09:00 AM | Softball
EAST LANSING, Mich. – Michigan State softball resumes Big Ten conference action this weekend in Champaign, Ill. with a three-game series against Illinois on April 11-13.
Friday night's series opener will be televised nationally on Big Ten Network with an 8:32 ET first pitch. Saturday and Sunday's games will stream on B1G+. Live stats will be available via StatBroadcast.
MSU is 8-30 all-time against the Illini dating back to 2001 and are 2-17 when facing Illinois on the road. The two teams have now met for four series in the last five seasons, only missing a meeting in 2022. Michigan State took one game off the Illini in both 2021 and 2024 going 2-7 in that span.
The Spartans went 2-2 last week splitting a pair of doubleheaders against Detroit Mercy and Toledo. Michigan State swept the Titans of Detroit Mercy before falling in back-to-back nail biters at Toledo in a series that was moved to the road due to flooding at Secchia Stadium.
MSU and Toledo went to nine innings in game one of the series before the Rockets won game two via seventh inning walk-off. The Spartans opened the week with a narrow 2-1 win over Detroit Mercy before an offensive explosion in a 20-0 game two win.
Junior Kaelin Cash paced the offense hitting .545 last week with a team-high six hits while freshman Carsyn Cassady was strong in the circle posting a 0.72 ERA in two starts over 9.2 innings pitched, allowing just one earned run.
The Opponent: Illinois
Illinois enters the weekend at 15-19 (2-7 B1G) under 10th year head coach Tyra Perry and is coming off a 1-2 series at Northwestern where it knocked off the Wildcats, 2-1, in game two. Both MSU and Illinois are among the teams fighting to qualify for the 12-seed in the B1G tournament.
Three Illini batters are hitting better than .300 entering the series led by Eileen Donahue's .366 along with a team-leading 1.027 OPS. Adisyn Caryl is batting .333 and Yazzy Avila comes in at .314. Donahue and Caryl are tied for the team-high with 20 RBIs each. Stevie Meade has heated up in B1G action with a .370 average in nine games posting a 1.174 OPS with 10 hits (including three home runs).
Megan Nuechterlein owns a team-best 3.90 ERA and 1.40 WHIP over 41.1 innings (16 appearances, six starts) while holding opponents to .244 batting. Karley Wergler (4.85 ERA) leads the team in innings pitched (65.0) while Lauren Wiles (4.29) has made a team-high 12 starts in the circle. Opponents are batting .292 against the Illini pitching staff.
Cashing In
Nobody has been hotter at the plate over the last two weeks than junior Kaelin Cash who has posted a .522 batting average, .607 on-base percentage and 1.087 slugging percentage in her first season as a starter.
Cash leads Michigan State in multi-hit games this season with nine and is tied for third in multi-RBI games with four. She posted a team-best 13 game reached base streak earlier this season. Is currently on a seven-game hitting streak which is an active team high.
On March 29, Cash set new program bests for single-game home runs (3) and RBIs (8), breaking the program RBI record set by Dayna Feenstra (7) against Wright State on March 9, 2006.
Prolific Pop
Michigan State has made tremendous strides in the power-hitting department since the addition of assistant coach Bethaney Wells in 2024. Prior to the arrival of Wells, MSU hit 17 home runs in 46 games in 2023, 25 home runs in 52 games in 2022, and 13 home runs in 40 games in 2021 - equaling just 55 home runs in 130 games prior to 2024.
MSU finished the 2024 season with the third-most single season home runs in program history (50), the most by the team since 2017 when it hit 66. The Spartans finished 2024 ranked #44 in the country in home runs per game with 0.98 (50 in 51 games).
That trend has continued in 2025 with MSU ranking #49 nationally in home runs per game with 35 in 32 games thus far (1.09 per game). 35 long balls match the 10th best mark in program history.
Four Spartans have posted five or more home runs to date led by Hawley's 9. Britain Beshears is close behind with seven. Kaelin Cash adds six and Sydney Doloszycki has posted five. In total eight different Spartans have hit home runs this season.
Michigan State is currently batting .277 which would tie for the 10th best season batting average in program history.
Hauling in Hits
After a breakout campaign as a sophomore, junior Hannah Hawley is continuing that trend in her junior season slashing a team-best .341/.483/.681 for a team-high 1.164 OPS. Hawley leads the team in multi-RBI games with seven and is tied for second on the team in multi-hit games (8) with Kendall Smiley.
Hawley's 14 multi-hit games led MSU in 2024 (five three-hit games, nine two-hit games) and she was second with five multi-RBI games (Britain Beshears, 8). Her 21 career home runs at MSU rank #9 in program history, two homers behind teammate Britain Beshears.
In 2024 Hawley led the team in batting average (.349), on-base percentage (.462), OPS (1.133), hits (52), extra-base hits (24) and walks (25).
Friday night's series opener will be televised nationally on Big Ten Network with an 8:32 ET first pitch. Saturday and Sunday's games will stream on B1G+. Live stats will be available via StatBroadcast.
MSU is 8-30 all-time against the Illini dating back to 2001 and are 2-17 when facing Illinois on the road. The two teams have now met for four series in the last five seasons, only missing a meeting in 2022. Michigan State took one game off the Illini in both 2021 and 2024 going 2-7 in that span.
The Spartans went 2-2 last week splitting a pair of doubleheaders against Detroit Mercy and Toledo. Michigan State swept the Titans of Detroit Mercy before falling in back-to-back nail biters at Toledo in a series that was moved to the road due to flooding at Secchia Stadium.
MSU and Toledo went to nine innings in game one of the series before the Rockets won game two via seventh inning walk-off. The Spartans opened the week with a narrow 2-1 win over Detroit Mercy before an offensive explosion in a 20-0 game two win.
Junior Kaelin Cash paced the offense hitting .545 last week with a team-high six hits while freshman Carsyn Cassady was strong in the circle posting a 0.72 ERA in two starts over 9.2 innings pitched, allowing just one earned run.
The Opponent: Illinois
Illinois enters the weekend at 15-19 (2-7 B1G) under 10th year head coach Tyra Perry and is coming off a 1-2 series at Northwestern where it knocked off the Wildcats, 2-1, in game two. Both MSU and Illinois are among the teams fighting to qualify for the 12-seed in the B1G tournament.
Three Illini batters are hitting better than .300 entering the series led by Eileen Donahue's .366 along with a team-leading 1.027 OPS. Adisyn Caryl is batting .333 and Yazzy Avila comes in at .314. Donahue and Caryl are tied for the team-high with 20 RBIs each. Stevie Meade has heated up in B1G action with a .370 average in nine games posting a 1.174 OPS with 10 hits (including three home runs).
Megan Nuechterlein owns a team-best 3.90 ERA and 1.40 WHIP over 41.1 innings (16 appearances, six starts) while holding opponents to .244 batting. Karley Wergler (4.85 ERA) leads the team in innings pitched (65.0) while Lauren Wiles (4.29) has made a team-high 12 starts in the circle. Opponents are batting .292 against the Illini pitching staff.
Cashing In
Nobody has been hotter at the plate over the last two weeks than junior Kaelin Cash who has posted a .522 batting average, .607 on-base percentage and 1.087 slugging percentage in her first season as a starter.
Cash leads Michigan State in multi-hit games this season with nine and is tied for third in multi-RBI games with four. She posted a team-best 13 game reached base streak earlier this season. Is currently on a seven-game hitting streak which is an active team high.
On March 29, Cash set new program bests for single-game home runs (3) and RBIs (8), breaking the program RBI record set by Dayna Feenstra (7) against Wright State on March 9, 2006.
Prolific Pop
Michigan State has made tremendous strides in the power-hitting department since the addition of assistant coach Bethaney Wells in 2024. Prior to the arrival of Wells, MSU hit 17 home runs in 46 games in 2023, 25 home runs in 52 games in 2022, and 13 home runs in 40 games in 2021 - equaling just 55 home runs in 130 games prior to 2024.
MSU finished the 2024 season with the third-most single season home runs in program history (50), the most by the team since 2017 when it hit 66. The Spartans finished 2024 ranked #44 in the country in home runs per game with 0.98 (50 in 51 games).
That trend has continued in 2025 with MSU ranking #49 nationally in home runs per game with 35 in 32 games thus far (1.09 per game). 35 long balls match the 10th best mark in program history.
Four Spartans have posted five or more home runs to date led by Hawley's 9. Britain Beshears is close behind with seven. Kaelin Cash adds six and Sydney Doloszycki has posted five. In total eight different Spartans have hit home runs this season.
Michigan State is currently batting .277 which would tie for the 10th best season batting average in program history.
Hauling in Hits
After a breakout campaign as a sophomore, junior Hannah Hawley is continuing that trend in her junior season slashing a team-best .341/.483/.681 for a team-high 1.164 OPS. Hawley leads the team in multi-RBI games with seven and is tied for second on the team in multi-hit games (8) with Kendall Smiley.
Hawley's 14 multi-hit games led MSU in 2024 (five three-hit games, nine two-hit games) and she was second with five multi-RBI games (Britain Beshears, 8). Her 21 career home runs at MSU rank #9 in program history, two homers behind teammate Britain Beshears.
In 2024 Hawley led the team in batting average (.349), on-base percentage (.462), OPS (1.133), hits (52), extra-base hits (24) and walks (25).
Players Mentioned
1B
/ Softball
3B
/ Softball
RHP
/ Softball
OF
/ Softball
3B/C
/ Softball
OF
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