Southern Illinois University
29-11, 11-6
Bradley
16-24, 7-10
Softball sweeps Bradley in dramatic fashion on Senior Day
04/25/2009 | 12:00:00 | Softball
Game One Box Score
Game Two Box Score
April 25, 2009
By Kyle Herm
www.SIUSalukis.com
CARBONDALE, Ill. -- Junior Alicia Garza clubbed a game-winning walk-off grand slam home run to lift the Saluki softball team (30-11, 12-6) over Bradley (16-25, 7-11) 5-3 in game one of a doubleheader sweep Saturday afternoon on Senior Day at Charlotte West Stadium. SIU completed the sweep with a 6-2 win in the nightcap.
Southern Illinois showed its resilience with two come-from-behind wins, and received a jolt from two juniors, Garza and designated player Allie Hanson, to send the seniors off with a pair of victories.
"Hits are definitely contagious and you always want to get a hit with someone on base because it's your job to bring them in," Garza said. "I think I cried a little bit running around the bases because it was really exciting."
SIU came back from a 3-1 deficit in game one, and was down 1-0 late in the second game before Hanson belted a two-run home run to ignite a six-run inning and series sweep.
"What I was pleased about in the first game was that we hit the ball very hard all day," said head coach Kerri Blaylock. "We needed something like that (Garza's grand slam) to understand that we can come from behind and I was really proud of them."
Sophomore Nikki Waters threw 4 2/3 scoreless innings of relief to earn a win in the series opener, and sophomore Danielle Glosson tossed a complete-game five-hitter with six strikeouts to win game two.
Garza finished the day 3-for-7 with four RBI, and Hanson went a combined 4-for-6 with a double, home run and three runs driven in.
"Allie (Hanson) has been challenged by the coaching staff and she gets it," Blaylock said. "You can give her corrections and she responds and I'm very proud of how she's been playing and she's been really confident at the plate."
Three Salukis also continued their hit streaks as well with base-knocks in both games. Freshman Alicia Junker pushed her streak to five games, and freshman Haley Gorman and sophomore Chelsea Held increased their streaks to seven.
Southern Illinois will look to complete the three-game sweep during Sunday's final game at 12 p.m. at Charlotte West Stadium.
Game one - Southern Illinois 5 Bradley 3
Junior Alicia Garza skied a 3-1 pitch over the left field fence for a game-winning walk-off grand slam to give the Salukis a 5-3 series-opening win.
Trailing 3-1 in the bottom of the seventh senior Jayme Wamsley started the rally with a one-out walk off Bradley starter Ashley Birdsong. Sophomore Chelsea Held followed with a single to left-center, and freshman Haley Gorman singled in the infield to load the bases for Garza.
The second baseman from Lafayette, Ind. did not disappoint the nearly sold-out home crowd with her second career grand slam in dramatic fashion.
The victory was the first for the team this season when trailing after the sixth inning, and the three-run deficit was the most runs overcome for a win all year.
Bradley put early pressure on the Salukis by taking a 3-0 lead in the third off senior starter Katie McNamara.
Second baseman Lindsay Watkins and left fielder Janay Mitchell hit back-to-back one-out singles, and Alycia Bachkora followed with a three-run home run to left field to stun Southern.
Waters replaced McNamara and went on to toss 4 2/3 scoreless innings while only allow three hits to allow for SIU's comeback, which began with a run in the fourth.
With junior Katie Wilson on second base, junior Allie Hanson crushed a RBI-double off the left field fence to cut into the deficit 3-1.
It took the Saluki offense until the seventh inning to finally break through, after Bradley's defense robbed multiple hits with solid defensive plays in both the fifth and sixth innings.
Birdsong took the loss with six strikeouts and fell to 10-10 on the season.
Game Two - Southern Illinois 6 Bradley 2
The Salukis used a five-hit six-run bottom of the fourth to come-from-behind to beat Bradley 6-2 in the doubleheader nightcap.
The Braves plated a run in the top of the fourth on the second home run of the day by Alycia Bachkora to take a 1-0 lead.
Southern responded though with six runs, two earned, in the ensuing bottom of the fourth to cruise to the game two win.
Designated player Allie Hanson started the rally with a one-out two-run home run to left-center field. It was Hanson's first home run of the season and brought a spark to the offense, which started sluggish with one hit through the first three innings.
The surge continued when freshman Mallory Duran reached on an error with the bases loaded to score a run, and sophomore Chelsea Held drilled her 11th double of the year to right field to score three more to put SIU up 6-1.
Bradley had three errors on infield grounders in the big and only run scoring inning for the Salukis, which proved to be the difference in the game.
Sophomore starter Daniele Glosson scattered four more hits after giving up the solo home run, and only surrendered one more run in the sixth inning en route to her eighth win of the season.
Team Stats
Pitching:
W: Waters, Nikki (13-2)
L: Ashley Birdsong (10-10)
Batting:
2B: Jacqueline Vitale 1
HR: Alycia Bachkora 1
RBI: Alycia Bachkora 3
Base Running:
RUNS: Lindsay Watkins 1 ; Janay Mitchell 1 ; Alycia Bachkora 1
SB: Jackie Roth 1
Batting:
2B: Hanson, Allie 1
HR: Garza, Alicia 1
RBI: Garza, Alicia 4 ; Hanson, Allie 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Held, Chelsea 1 ; Gorman, Haley 1 ; Garza, Alicia 1 ; Wilson, Katie 1 ; Ebstein, Jenene 1
SB: Held, Chelsea 1 ; Gorman, Haley 1 ; Garza, Alicia 1
