Southern Illinois University
20-12
Eastern Illinois
23-7
Softball stops EIU in 2-0 victory
04/06/2011 | 12:00:00 | Softball
April 6, 2011
By Megan Kramper
SIUSalukis.com
CHARLESTON, Ill. - Battling 20 mile per hour winds and a nationally ranked pitching staff didn't seem to faze the SIU softball team as it defeated Eastern Illinois 2-0 on Wednesday afternoon.
Coming into Wednesday's game, the Panther pitching staff carried a nation leading 1.14 ERA but the Salukis (20-12, 4-2 MVC) found their way around tough pitching as they pounded out seven hits in the victory.
"We knew we were going to face good pitching and I was really pleased with what we did offensively and I thought Danielle (Glosson) threw a great game and it was a great win for us," Head coach Kerri Blaylock said.
Taylor Orsburn came up big for the Salukis with a 2-for-3 performance and one RBI off a double in the sixth while Jayna Spivey added the other RBI off a single in the fourth as the freshman duo continues to pace the team with 22 RBIs apiece.
Haley Gorman continued her dominate hitting performance as of late going 1-for-3 while the Salukis also got hits from Allie VadeBoncouer, Chelsea Held, and Natalee Weissinger.
The Salukis got a solid performance from Danielle Glosson, who threw her seventh shutout of the season moving her to 12-8 on the season as she recorded seven strikeouts and allowed just four hits en route to another win.
Blaylock said that Glosson has really settled in to her role on the mound and is looking for some strong performances from the senior ace as the Salukis dig deeper into the conference season.
"In this day and age it is hard to shutout a team out and it probably took her a while because of the caliber of schedule we've played but she's really settled in and thrown some great ball games," Blaylock said.
EIU's Stephanie Maday , who posted a 0.82 ERA coming into the matchup, picked up the loss as the Panthers (23-7, 10-1 OVC) used three pitchers in the contest.
Blaylock also credited the team's defense in the win, as strong winds made fly balls unpredictable.
"We made some plays and we want our kids to be aggressive and that we made the plays we needed too and a couple of good catches from Haley (Gorman) and Jayna (Spivey) and Taylor Orsburn coming in on some good catches but I thought it was an overall good performance for us today," Blaylock said.
The Salukis will return home to Charlotte West Stadium as they host Bradley in a three game conference series beginning Saturday with a doubleheader beginning at noon.
Team Stats
Pitching:
W: Glosson, Danielle (12-8)
L: MADAY, Stephanie (10-3)
Batting:
2B: Orsburn, Taylor 1 ; VadeBoncouer, Allie 1
RBI: Orsburn, Taylor 1 ; Spivey, Jayna 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Gorman, Haley 1 ; Trapani, Cristina 1
CS: Held, Chelsea 1
Batting:
SH: SORRENTINO, Maria 1
Base Running:
SB: WOOD, Abby 1
