From
Big Ten Cuts Softball Tournament
A new-look Big Ten softball schedule starting in 2009 will not include a postseason event.
"The main reason we dropped it was to make what we feel is a better overall conference schedule for the student-athletes," Illinois softball coach Terri Sullivan said.
Previously, Big Ten softball teams faced two opponents and played a total of four games during three-day weekends. The format included single games on Fridays and Saturdays against one foe, followed by a Sunday doubleheader against another.
Starting next season, Big Ten weekends will consist of single games against the same opponent on Saturdays and Sundays. In addition, teams will play Big Ten doubleheaders on Wednesdays against nearby schools either two or three times a season. In 2009, Illinois will play Wednesday twin bills at home against Indiana and on the road versus Iowa and Purdue.
In order to maintain a round-robin conference schedule, the Big Ten softball calendar will expand by two weekends ? starting one week earlier and ending one week later.
The new schedule puts the Big Ten in line with other conferences and is expected to reduce overall missed class time. Sullivan also looks for the quality of play on weekends to improve with fewer games and less travel for visiting teams.
"We were the only conference that played four games in a weekend," Sullivan said. "Our travel was fairly maddening. Last year, we were at Penn State and then we had to be in Michigan on a Sunday for a doubleheader.
"It's a great conference and you want to have great games in it. This should help with (less) missed class time and overall better games."