Southern Illinoise University Athletics
Softball continues MVC play at Wichita State Friday and Saturday
03/20/2008 | 12:00:00 | Softball
March 20, 2008
By Kyle Herm
www.SIUSalukis.com
CARBONDALE, Ill. - The Southern Illinois softball team, coming off a three-game sweep in its MVC-opening series against Northern Iowa, travels to Wichita State to take on the Shockers for a three-game set Friday and Saturday, March 21-22.
The Salukis (15-11, 3-0 MVC) and Shockers (19-12, 1-2 MVC) open with a doubleheader on Friday, beginning at 4 p.m., followed by a single game on Saturday at 12 p.m. at Wilkins Stadium.
SIU leads the all-time series with Wichita State, 38-21, but dropped two out of three at home to WSU last season in a wild series. All three games went to extra-innings, with Southern Illinois falling 5-3 in 10 innings, 2-1 in 12, and winning the final game in 10 innings, 2-1. The 12-inning game, was the longest game ever played at Charlotte West Stadium.
Southern Illinois enters the series with Wichita State with one of the top offenses in the Missouri Valley Conference, while the Shockers have one of the leagues' top pitchers in Ashly Bright. SIU leads the MVC in five offensive categories, and Bright is tied for the most wins (11) and has recorded the league's most strikeouts (178).
"Bright is an extremely good pitcher, who throws very hard, but we've faced team's with very good pitchers like Hawaii, and Northwestern's Lauren Delaney who touched 70 miles-per-hour," SIU head coach Kerri Blaylock said. "So it's not like we haven't seen it before."
All three games will be available live on-line through an audio Web cast, with play-by-play from Patrick Erickson, and can be accessed by visiting the softball page on SIU's athletics Web site, www.SIUSalukis.com.
The match-up against Wichita State will be the first road conference series for the Salukis this season, after taking all three games in their first series at home versus Northern Iowa last weekend.
"When you play in conference, all bets are off and you just have to come out and play hard," Blaylock said. "We know the challenges of playing on the road, even though everything is new for our young pitching staff. We've been practicing well, and I'm a firm believer in the idea that you play like you practice."
