No. 18/20 Softball drops two games to Creighton

Sunday, April 1

Omaha, Neb.

1:00 PM

Southern Illinois University

28-8, 9-2

Creighton

26-7, 8-1

Southern Illinois

Creighton

04/01/2007 | 12:00:00 | Softball

Box Score

Game 1 Box Score
Game 2 Box Score

April 1, 2007

By Ryan Shaw
www.SIUSalukis.com

OMAHA, Neb. - The No. 18/20 Southern Illinois softball team dropped two games Sunday at the Creighton Sports Complex, giving up the series win and the lead in the Missouri Valley Conference.

The Salukis (28-8, 9-2 MVC) lost the first game of the day's doubleheader by a count of 5-4.

SIU struck first in the game, taking a 1-0 lead in the top of the second off of a Katie Wilson double that scored Katie Schmidt.

Creighton (26-7, 8-1 MVC) evened the score in the bottom of the third when Michelle Koch scored off of a Jamie Reiss single.

The Bluejays then went ahead when Lau Emmsley-Chang singled, scoring Michelle Graner. The Salukis stormed back to take a 4-2 lead in the fifth inning. Becky Wegmann walked and advanced to second when Tiffanie Dismore singled to left field. Wegmann scored when Alicia Garza singled up the middle, moving Dismore to third. Garza and Dismore both scored when Amanda Clifton singled up the middle.

Creighton scored one run in the sixth inning when Jessica German homered off of Ashley Hamby. Trailing by one run, the Jays responded with a two-run double by Graner, which wrapped up the win at 5-4.

Cassidy Scoggins suffered the loss, dropping her record to 14-4 on the season.

The Salukis looked to rebound in game two of the doubleheader, but the Jays came out on top again, 12-6.

Creighton's Graner got the high-scoring affair started with her second homerun of the day in the bottom of the second. The Jays added another run when Bailey Dawson scored off of a T.J. Eadus double.

The Salukis stormed back in the fourth to take a 4-2 lead. Katie Wilson homered to left field to give SIU its first run. Lauren Haas and Katie Wagner both reached base on fielding errors. Haas scored off of a Krystal Stein single to left field. Wagner and Stein then scored off of a Garza single.

Creighton responded in the bottom half of the fourth, scoring six runs. Caitlin Marcano and German both singled to reach base and scored on a Koch homerun. Relief pitcher Scoggins walked Jessica Wakasugi and Jamie Reiss reached on a fielding error.

Wakasugi and Reiss scored when Dawson doubled to left center. Eadus then reached on a fielding error. Dawson then scored on a wild pitch by Scoggins.

The Salukis scored two more runs in the sixth. Wagner walked and Stein reached on single. Wagner scored off of a Dismore double and Stein scored off of a Garza sacrifice fly.

With the Salukis trailing by only two, 8-6, Creighton added four runs to put the game away in the bottom of the sixth. Reiss reached on a throwing error by Wagner. Graner reached on a fielder's choice. Reiss and Graner scored on a Caitlin Marcano homerun.

German then tacked on the Jays' 12th run of the game with a homerun of her own. Scoggins picked up her second loss of the day, falling to 14-5 on the season.

The Salukis return to action on Tuesday with the final leg of their eight-game road swing, traveling to Cape Girardeau, Mo. for a doubleheader with Southeast Missouri State at 2 p.m.

Southern then returns home on Friday, April 6 for the first game of a three-game MVC series against Drake at Charlotte West Stadium.

NOTES: - With her hits in Sunday's games, Alicia Garza extends her hitting streak to 12 games, SIU's longest of the season... With her home run in Sunday's second game, freshman Katie Wilson moves in to a tie for seventh all-time at SIU in single-season home runs with nine - Wilson ties herself with a pair of Katies as she is tied with Katie Jordan (2003) and Katie Louis (2006)... Sunday's losses end Southern's 10-game winning streak, the team's longest of the season... It is the second time this season that SIU has lost back-to-back games... There has never been a three-game sweep in the SIU-Creighton series history.