University of Illinois Springfield softball player Mandy Smith was treated to a pleasant surprise when she left her dorm Wednesday.
Written on the sidewalk in chalk were messages congratulating Smith and her teammates on winning the GLVC West Division title Tuesday and racking up 30 wins this spring.
“It’s nice to walk out your dorm and see it on the ground,” Smith said.
The UIS softball team is the first program to win a division title in the school’s brief NCAA Division II era.
The Prairie Stars will make their postseason debut Friday at the Great Lakes Valley Conference Championship Tournament in East Peoria as the No. 2 seed. UIS (30-18) opens the double-elimination tourney against seventh-seeded Bellarmine (31-25) at noon at EastSide Centre.
The team was featured in an April 26, 2012, article in The State Journal-Register.
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