Ohio State
Illinois
No. 21 Buckeyes Set for Regular Season Finale at Illinois
5/1/2025 7:05:00 AM | Softball
Will face the Illini Friday-Sunday at Eichelberger Field
COLUMBUS, Ohio – The final weekend of the 2025 college softball regular season takes No. 21-ranked Ohio State to the University of Illinois, where the Buckeyes and Illini will meet for a three-game series beginning on Friday at 6 p.m. ET (5 p.m. CT) at Eichelberger Field.
Coverage Plans
Each game of the Illinois series will be streamed live on B1G+, along with a link to the live stats available on the schedule page at OhioStateBuckeyes.com. Both live stats and Ohio State Softball's official X account, @OhioStateSB, will provide in-game updates.
The Basics
No. 21 Ohio State vs. Illinois | Friday, May 2 | 6 p.m. ET | Urbana, Ill.
Watch Live: B1G+ | Live Stats
No. 21 Ohio State vs. Illinois | Saturday, May 3 | 2 p.m. ET | Urbana, Ill.
Watch Live: B1G+ | Live Stats
No. 21 Ohio State vs. Illinois | Sunday, May 4 | 1 p.m. ET | Urbana, Ill.
Watch Live: B1G+ | Live Stats
Buckeye This and That
- Following last weekend's sweep of Purdue, Ohio State sits at 41-10-1 overall and 14-5 in the Big Ten. The Buckeyes are currently in a three-way tie for third place in the conference standings.
- The Buckeyes are No. 21 in both the NFCA coaches poll and ESPN/USA Today Top 25 polls this week.
- Just having completed their home schedule last weekend against Purdue, the Buckeyes finished with a 19-3 record at home, registering 206 runs and 59 home runs.
- In the current winning streak, Ohio State has more than doubled the runs of their competition, outscoring opponents 91-39.
- Just as they have for much of the season, the Buckeyes lead the Big Ten in hits, home runs, slugging percentage, runs, and walks. They also lead the nation in home runs, slugging percentage, runs, walks and runs per game.
- Seven Buckeyes hold over 10 home runs this season, with four recording 17 or more.
- Eight individual Buckeyes crack the top 10 in at least one category in Big Ten statistics (Jasmyn Burns, Reagan Milliken, Hadley Parisien, Morgan Frye, Sami Bewick, Skylar Limon, Kami Kortokrax, and Lorin Boutté). Five of the eight rank top five in at least one category.
- Skylar Limon is 12 for her last 23 at the plate, good for a .521 average while also drawing six walks in that stretch. Limon ranks sixth in the conference with 32 walks and seventh with an on-base percentage of .524.
A Note on the Competition
- Illinois is 21-26 entering this weekend, with a 5-13 mark in Big Ten play after dropping a conference series at Rutgers last weekend. The Illini will face Eastern Illinois on Wednesday afternoon before this weekend's series.
- The leaders of the Illini offense are Adisyn Caryl and Eileen Donahue. Caryl leads the group in both average (.340) and hits (48), while Donahue holds the leading mark in home runs (10) and RBI (34).
- On defense, Megan Nuechterlein holds the lowest ERA on the pitching staff (3.24). Yet it is Karley Yergler who leads the team in innings pitched with 101 frames tossed. Yergler is 7-8 on the year, leading the pitching stable in strikeouts with 52
- Ohio State is 24-12 all-time against Illinois and has won each of the last six series. The two teams met last season in Columbus with the Buckeyes winning two of the three games at Buckeye Field.
