Eastern’s softball team will have its work cut out when it travels up Interstate 57 to Champaign to play the University of Illinois.

The Panthers (9-11, 1-4) will need to get their three-hit performance against Ohio Valley Conference rival Tennessee Tech (15-15, 3-0) out of their heads and concentrate on the Illini’s (18-13, 2-2 Big Ten) dominating pitching staff.

“It will be tough,” said Eastern head coach Lloydene Searle. “We had a really good practice today. It was a really needed practice.”

The Illini pitching staff has a minuscule 1.33 ERA and 130 strikeouts to 61 walks.

Illinois is led by sophomore Sherri Taylor (9-9) with a 1.34 ERA in 109.1 innings. In a doubleheader against Wisconsin Sunday, Taylor struck out 16 batters and yielded 14 hits in 14 innings of work.

Abby Lovejoy (5-0) has a 0.83 ERA in 33.2 innings. Sophomore Amanda Fortune (4-4) is the Illini’s other pitcher with significant innings this season. In 47 innings, she has an ERA of 1.79.

On offense, the Illini are equally as formidable. They are led by sophomore infielder Lindsey Hamma (.426, 18 RBI). The squad has a .282 average and has outscored its opponents 131 to 48.

“I think our pitchers and catcher rise up when we pinpoint a hitter like this,” Searle said.

Illinois plays small ball and takes advantage of its opponents mistakes. Of the team’s 131 runs only 98 are earned.

The Illini are aggressive on the basepaths and have stolen 55 bases in 67 attempts. Hammas led the team in this area with 13 along with sophomore infielder Erin Jones.

“She (junior catcher Kristin Darnell) is going to have be pretty sharp, but the first thing is to keep them off base,” Searle said.

The Panthers are looking to play well, but hope that their experience against bigger schools like Illinois will help them in the OVC schedule.

“Hopefully we can utilize U of I as a practice for us for the OVC,” Searle said. “It can only make us better and stronger.”