Southern Illinois University
26-6, 10-3
Missouri St.
18-17, 7-7
Softball Sweeps SMS 4-3 & 7-0
04/12/2003 | 12:00:00 | Softball
April 12, 2003
Game 1 Box Score?| Game 2 Box Score |? Photo Gallery
Carbondale, Ill. - Jenny Doehring went 5-for-7, Maria Damico tied a school and career record with two home runs in a game and Renee Mueller threw a shut out to lead Southern Illinois (27-6, 11-3 MVC) to 4-3 and 7-0 wins in a doubleheader sweep of SMS (18-18, 7-8 MVC) Saturday at Charlotte West Stadium - Rochman Field. The sweep gives SIU five straight wins and victories in 13 of its last 14 games. SIU will close the series with SMS at 12 p.m. on Sunday.
"SMS is a good-hitting team and we knew they would attack us, but we did such a good job offensively to come back. I told the pitchers you can't always throw a shut out. We have to score runs when we're down and we did that today. All the credit goes to the offense in game one. It was important to get three runs back after they scored three runs," said Kerri Blaylock, SIU head coach.
"This team is driving the ball well and we even scored in the seventh inning in game two. Renee had a great pitching effort to shut out SMS. I'm glad we won two games and now we can go for the sweep tomorrow. Every game in the Valley is going to be tough and we have to focus and we did a good job of that today. I was so happy for Maria. She has battled and overcome some tough times. It's great that we hit three home runs in a game again."
The Salukis scored five runs with two outs in the first inning of game two led by Kelly Creek and Damico home runs. Lindsey Bonnell doubled to open the game, moved to third on Adie Viefhaus' sacrifice and scored on Katie Jordan's sacrifice fly. Creek followed with a solo homer, her eighth of the year, to make it 2-0. Katie Louis walked and scored on Jen Doehring's double for a 3-0 lead. Damico followed with a crushing homer to centerfield, her second of the year, to bring home Doehring and make it 5-0 SIU after a half inning.
Damico led off the fourth inning with another deep shot to centerfield for a 6-0 lead. Doehring singled in Kendra Moore in the seventh to wrap up the scoring and provide Mueller with a 7-0 lead.
"I feel really good. I feel like I'm back. I don't need to hit a home run every game but hopefully I can have good at bats and see the ball like I did today every game. I'm excited to be helping my team win. I felt like I hadn't been giving the team everything I could earlier and now I'm doing my part and contributing," added Damico.
Mueller (9-2) threw a three-hit, complete game shutout to earn her career-high ninth win. She allowed four strikeouts and three walks to pick her fourth complete game this season.
Game one was a much closer affair. After three scoreless innings, SMS jumped out to a 3-0 lead in the top of the fourth on a two singles, a groundout an a two-RBI double.
The Salukis responded with three runs of their own in the bottom of the fourth. Creek led off with a single and Louis hit a two run homer, her eighth, to leftfield to cut the lead to 3-2. Adie Viefhaus scored on a throwing error and the score was tied at 3-3. SIU scored the winning run when Doehring led off the sixth inning with her second triple of the year and scored on Viefhaus' sacrifice fly for a 4-3 lead.
Amy Harre (16-4) struck out six and walked two in seven innings to pick up her 16th win and 13th complete game of the season. Harre allowed eight hits and three earned runs to improve to 9-2 in MVC play.
Damico joins Louis and Creek (twice) by tying the record of two runs in a game this season. The feat was accomplished ten times prior to the 2003 season. Louis' eighth home run ties her with Marta Viefhaus (1998) for most homers by a freshman with eight. Creek and Louis are also tied for third on the single season home run list with Erin Stremsterfer (1999 & 2001) and Colleen Holloway (1993).
The Salukis have outscored their opponents 44-7 in the last seven games, winning six of seven. SIU has eight multi-homer games and twice has hit three homers in a game (4/5 vs Drake).
Team Stats
Pitching:
W: Renee Mueller (9-2)
L: Nemlowill (4-5)
Batting:
2B: Lindsey Bonnell 1 ; Jenny Doehring 1 ; Haley Viefhaus 1
HR: Kelly Creek 1 ; Maria Damico 2
RBI: Katie Jordan 1 ; Kelly Creek 1 ; Jenny Doehring 2 ; Maria Damico 3
SH: Adie Viefhaus 1
SF: Katie Jordan 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Lindsey Bonnell 1 ; Kendra Moore 1 ; Kelly Creek 1 ; Katie Louis 1 ; Jenny Doehring 1 ; Maria Damico 2
HBP: Maria Damico 1
Batting:
SH: Bean 1
