The tournament marked the debut for Head Coach Shannon Nicholson, after a summer that saw prior Head Coach Mat Mundell move on to the University of Evansville. The Stars opened the tournament facing off against the Lions of Lindenwood University, out of St. Charles, Missouri. UIS began the game at bat, and got off to a quick start with the help of a Lion’s pitcher, who walked the first batter. She hit the second with a pitch, and then sailed one over her catcher’s head to advance the Stars’ runners into scoring position on second and third. This led to a two RBI single before throwing out a runner stealing second, recording a strikeout, and the next batter grounding out. Neither team would score until the fourth inning. The Lions opened the inning with back-to-back doubles and an RBI, capitalizing on an errant throw to third by UIS. It looked like the Stars would escape the inning with the lead after two ground outs, but after another off-target throw to first, Lindenwood batted in another run to tie before UIS could close the inning. UIS would retake the lead in the sixth, then close out the seventh with three consecutive outs. However, being an exhibition, they continued to play, allowing each team to give their bench players some extra reps. The Stars’ batters did not disappoint in the extra inning. They recorded three runs, with senior Jordyn Amos delivering the two RBI double to extend the lead to 6-3.

UIS continued their success in the next game against Lincoln Land Community College (LLCC), putting up a big first inning lead that would never be challenged, eventually finishing with a 4-1 victory.

After the game, Coach Nicholson, who said, “I’m really proud of the way that they’re coming together, they’ve worked really hard, we’ve thrown a lot at them over the last two weeks, they kind of started putting it together today, so that was exciting to see.” When asked if any individual player had really stood out and impressed her, she responded, “That’s hard to say, because every day it’s somebody different. We’ve got 18 girls and they’re all gonna provide their own roles for sure… we’re gonna work our lineups around a lot this fall… I think our seniors are doing a really great job, Lauren Hollin is playing third base for us right now and she hasn’t played a whole lot there, and she was fantastic against Lincoln Land… those four (seniors) have really stepped up pretty well.”