Ill. Legislature faces off in softball game

SPRINGFIELD - Illinois legislators are pausing from their partisan battles at the state Capitol to pick up bats and gloves for their annual softball game.

Senate Democrats and Republicans will square off against their counterparts in the House at Lincoln Park in Springfield on Wednesday night. The first pitch is scheduled for 5:30.

The game is a brief pause from some looming issues facing the Legislature this spring. State lawmakers must pass a spending plan before May 31, an especially political issue in an election year.

But the friendly, bipartisan game doesn't always go smoothly. Republican state Sen. Matt Murphy of Palatine suffered a knee injury and was taken away by an ambulance last year.

The House won last year's game, laying claim to the competition's travelling trophy.