Southern Illinoise University Athletics
Softball continues conference schedule at Drake
03/23/2006 | 12:00:00 | Softball
March 23, 2006
By Matt Crouch
www.siusalukis.com
CARBONDALE, Ill. - The #25 Southern Illinois University softball team (17-3, 3-0 MVC) returns to action this weekend as it continues its Missouri Valley Conference schedule at Drake University (11-14, 2-1 MVC) with a three-game series.
Action is set to begin Saturday at 12 p.m. with a doubleheader at Drake's Ron Buel Field in Des Moines, Iowa. The series will conclude Sunday with a single game beginning at 12 p.m.
SIU enters the game after having a very good week this week. Following its three-game MVC-opening sweep over Northern Iowa, the Salukis were honored twice as junior pitcher Cassidy Scoggins was named MVC Pitcher of the Week and SIU was voted into the top 25 of the ESPN.com / USA Softball poll for the first time this season.
Southern Illinois is also on its best start to a season since 1991 with its 17-3 record entering this weekend's series.
Don't let the Drake's record fool you, though, this is a good team. Having played a very tough schedule with four games against two ranked opponents and games against teams from the Big 10 and Big 12, Drake is a team that has seen a lot of good softball in its 25 games this season.
The Bulldogs have even pulled out some wins over some big teams. Drake split a doubleheader with Ohio State earlier this season, topping the Buckeyes 4-3 in nine innings. Drake also split with Missouri in their two meetings at the Tiger Invitational, beating the Tigers 7-6 in the second meeting.
Putting their non-conference troubles behind them, Drake got its MVC season going in winning fashion, taking two wins from Evansville in the conference-opening series. Leading Drake at the plate this season have been the trio of Lindsay Larry, Shanna Cook and Cassie Heller.
Larry, Drake's leadoff hitter, leads the team with a .296 (24-for-81) average with two extra-base hits. She also leads the team with 15 stolen bases in her 18 attempts.
Right behind Larry is Cook, who has a .280 (23-for-82) average. She leads the team in home runs (3) and RBI (17) while hitting two doubles so far this season.
Rounding out the trio is Heller with her .276 (8-for-29) average. She does not see much action at the plate as she splits time between pitching and catching, but she takes advantage when she does. Of her eight hits this season, three are for extra bases (a double, a triple and a home run).
Seeing the most action in the circle for the Bulldogs this season has been Heller and Jessica Hicks.
Heller has a 3.34 ERA in her 65.1 innings pitched. She has 24 strikeouts along with three complete games and one shutout. She also has two saves on the season.
Hicks has a 3.50 ERA in her 64.0 innings in the circle. She leads the team in strikeouts with 44, while also throwing three complete games and a shutout.
As a team, Drake has a .214 (141-for-660) batting average and a 3.33 ERA.
The audio Webcast will not be available for this weekend's series with Drake, but LiveStats will be available by accessing Drake's athletics website, or directly by going to http://www.drakebulldogs.org/softball/livestats/xlive.htm
