Southern Illinois University
26-10, 10-5
Creighton
26-12, 14-4
No. 24 Softball drops series finale at Creighton 3-0
04/20/2009 | 12:00:00 | Softball
April 19, 2009
By Kyle Herm
www.SIUSalukis.com
OMAHA, Neb. - Fifth-inning blunders doomed the No. 24 Saluki softball team (26-10, 10-5) in a 3-0 series finale loss at Creighton (26-12, 14-4) Sunday afternoon at the CU Sports Complex.
Senior left-hander Katie McNamara and junior hurler Tara Oltman, the top two pitchers according to earned run average in the Missouri Valley Conference, squared-off in the rubber match of the three-game series.
The two fought through four nail-biting frames until Creighton pushed three runs across in the fifth, aided by a pair of SIU fielding miscues, for the go-ahead and game-winning runs.
Liz McKewon led-off with a bunt single and moved to second on a sacrifice.
In the next at-bat, shortstop Bailey Dawson lifted a fly ball to right field, but was dropped partially due to the treacherous wind to put runners at second and third - still with one out.
Michelle Koch followed with a squeeze bunt to score McKewon, and in a late attempt to get Koch out at first, the ball was thrown low and trickled into right field to score Dawson from second and put the Bluejays up 2-0.
Creighton went on to load the bases and sophomore Nikki Waters walked in the third run in relief of McNamara to close out the unfortunate, and momentum-draining inning.
Down to its last six outs, Southern was unable to overcome the deficit and struck out in five of the final six at-bats to end the game.
Despite only tallying two hits, the Salukis piled on five base runners in the first three innings against the Valley's top pitcher - but could not capitalize.
SIU had two runners on with two outs in the first, and had a golden opportunity with one out and the bases loaded in the third from a single and pair of walks.
Unlike yesterday's second game victory, the Salukis could not come up with a clutch hit with runners on.
Sophomore Chelsea Held and freshman Haley Gorman each recorded a hit, and McNamara gave up five hits and three runs, one earned, in 4 1/3 innings pitched to lose only her second game, and first in a starting role this season.
Oltman, who pitched every inning in the three games, improved to 21-8 in the complete-game shutout effort to help Creighton win the series 2-1.
Southern Illinois will continue play in a 3 p.m. non-conference doubleheader on Wednesday, April 22 at Saint Louis.
Team Stats
Pitching:
W: Oltman, Tara (21-8)
L: McNamara, Katie (8-2)
Base Running:
SB: Held, Chelsea 1 ; Gorman, Haley 1
HBP: Wagner, Katie 1
Batting:
2B: Loeffelholz, Sara 1
RBI: Koch, Michelle 1 ; Larson, Lauren 1
SH: Dawson, Bailey 1 ; Larson, Lauren 1 ; Jadlowski, Jessi 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Dawson, Bailey 1 ; Koch, Michelle 1 ; McKewon, Liz 1
HBP: Koch, Michelle 1 ; Graner, Michelle 1
