Senior outfielder Meredith Wilson bounces back strong from injury
04/20/2015 | 12:00:00 | DawgTracker
By John Lock
SIUSalukis.com
CARBONDALE, Ill. - Meredith Wilson was playing in a tournament in Kansas City, and Southern Illinois head coach Kerri Blaylock stopped by to watch. Wilson had sent emails to about 50 coaches letting them know where she would be playing. Wilson recalls hitting a few home runs that day.
"She was at literally every single game after that," Wilson said. "She was so persistent. That's probably why I chose Carbondale."
In Wilson, Blaylock saw a hitter with tremendous presence at the plate. The powerful lefty always hit in the middle of the order and could send any pitch over the fence. Wilson started 51 games her freshman year and was second-team All-MVC after hitting .319 with 32 RBIs.
"I expected to be successful, but I didn't expect to start my whole freshman season," Wilson said. "The coaches give all the freshmen a chance; if you are successful in your chance, you keep the job."
And she kept it rolling to her sophomore season. In the third game of her sophomore campaign, Wilson hit a grand slam to dead center in the sixth inning of a 4-0 win over Fordham. She added on another grand slam later in the year and was again an All-MVC selection.
"She has great presence at the plate," Blaylock said. "When she's seeing the ball well and is confident, she's a hitter I certainly wouldn't want to face."
The grand slam against Fordham was the start of a long list of clutch moments from Wilson. She hit a walk-off RBI single after a 16-pitch at bat last year in the sweep of Loyola--and she did it off eventual MVC Pitcher of the Year Brittany Gardner. Her solo home run in the bottom of the eighth against Northern Colorado this season turned a would-be loss into a tie.
"When I get in those pressure situations, I just try to put the ball in play," Wilson said. "Good things happen when you put the ball in play."
Now in her senior season, Wilson is coming back from an ankle injury suffered in the second weekend of conference play. And she's coming back strong. In the nine games since she returned, Wilson has reached in eight of them, including seven straight. She has two doubles and a home run to complement her .316 batting average since the return.
Before she moves back to her native St. Louis to look for a marketing job, Wilson and her teammates have nine more regular-season games to work some magic. Maybe Wilson's clutch bat will get another chance to add to the 2015 team's already impressive total of nine comeback victories.
"This year has been the most enjoyable," Wilson said. "The team fights; it doesn't give up; we come from behind; we click as a whole."
