Southern Illinoise University Athletics
Softball Cancels Series Finale With Wichita State Due To Weather
05/04/2003 | 12:00:00 | Softball
May 4, 2003
Carbondale, Ill. - Southern Illinois' series and regular season finale with Wichita State on Sunday was cancelled due to rain. The cancellation was the 12th this season for SIU due to poor weather. The teams split yesterday with WSU winning game one 1-0 and the Salukis coming back to win game two 3-1.
"I was real satisfied with the way we came out in the second game yesterday. It set a really good tone and the kids bounced back from being flat and I hope they learned from that. The regular season has been a great run and I say regular season because I'm ready to do some things in the postseason. With our schedule and who we've played, I feel really good about being 35-10. I wish we would have some of the rainouts back, but with our sport there's nothing you can do about it," said Kerri Blaylock, SIU head coach.
The Salukis (35-10, 18-6 MVC) finish the season in second place in the Missouri Valley Conference, while the Shockers (38-18, 16-9 MVC) finished third. The 18 MVC wins are the most in Blaylock's four years as head coach and for SIU as a school in Missouri Valley Conference (1993-present) or Gateway Conference (1983-1992) play. The Salukis second place finish in the regular season matches its best finish, which came in the 1993 and 1997 MVC seasons.
The second place finish in the Valley gives the Salukis a first round bye in the MVC tournament in Evansville, Ind. on Thursday, May 8. Southern Illinois will open the 2003 MVC tournament on Thursday at 7:30 p.m. against the winner of the #3 and #6 seeds, who play earlier at 2:30 p.m. on Thursday afternoon.
"It's huge to get the bye so you can get oriented to the MVC Tournament and the new kids can see what's going on. You can worry about just playing that one game on Thursday and the other teams will have played one game. For their pitcher, it would be their second game if they go with the same person, which could benefit us. I'd like to play at noon but we'll be able rest our kids and let them recover from finals," added Blaylock.
The MVC Tournament will take place at Cooper Stadium Complex on the campus of the University of Evansville May 8-10.
