2016 Season In Review
06/13/2016 | 12:00:00 | Softball
Southern Illinois (33-19, 15-10 MVC)
- Head Coach: Kerri Blaylock (595-324-1, 17th Season)
- Associate Head Coach: Jen Sewell
- Assistant Coach: Katie Wagner
FAST FIVE
- SIU won 33 games in 2016, the most for the program since 2012.
- Shaye Harre earned second-team Academic All-American honors, the 25th Academic All-America honor in Saluki Softball history. SIU has the second-most Academic All-Americans in Division I softball history.
- Six Salukis earned All-MVC honors. Shaye Harre and Brianna Jones were first-team honorees; Savanna Dover, Kelsey Gonzalez and Sydney Jones earned second-team honors; and Merri Anne Patterson was an All-Defensive team honoree.
- SIU led the league in ERA at 2.45. Southern threw 15 shutouts, the most in the league and the most for the program since 2007.
- Brianna Jones was a top-10 finalist for NFCA National Freshman of the Year. Jones led all freshmen nationally with 10 shutouts.
FOR STARTERS
- SIU won 33 games, a 12-game improvement from 2015 and the most for the program since 2012.
- The program posted its lowest team ERA since 2010 and led the conference in ERA in both all games and league-only games.
- The program also hit 38 home runs, the most for the team since 2011.
- Six All-MVC honorees in 2016 were Salukis, the most All-League Salukis since 2012.
- Southern earned MVC Player, Pitcher or Newcomer of the Week nine times in 2016, the most for the program since 2005.
- The Salukis finished the season 8-3 in its last 11 games, the strongest 11-game close to a season since 2010.
- Southern advanced to the conference tournament for the 32nd time in the last 33 seasons.
- The Salukis pitched 15 shutouts this season, the most shutouts for the program since 2007 (18). All three pitchers threw at least one shutout.
- Southern Illinois pitching allowed only 17 home runs in 343.0 innings pitched, the best mark in the league and a 36-homer improvement over 2015.
- SIU led the MVC (all games) in ERA (2.45), opposing batting average (.238), shutouts (15), runs allowed (143), hits allowed (310), earned runs allowed (120), walks allowed (122), doubles allowed (41) and home runs allowed (17).
- SIU led the MVC (MVC games only) in ERA (2.01), opposing batting average (.241), runs allowed (63), earned runs allowed (49), walks allowed (47) doubles allowed (16), home runs allowed (11) and fielding percentage (.970).
- Southern out-homered its opponents 38-17 in 2016. SIU's 115 extra-base hits nearly doubled its opponents total (62)
- SIU posted a winning home record for the 35th consecutive season. Southern went 13-8 at Charlotte West Stadium / Kay Brechtelsbauer Field.
BRI JONES AMONG TOP-10 FINALISTS NATIONALLY
Brianna Jones burst on the college scene with arguably the greatest freshman season in Saluki Softball history. Jones set SIU freshmen records for wins, shutouts, innings, games started and complete games. Her 10 shutouts led all freshmen nationally by three. She was among 10 finalists for the NFCA National Freshman of the Year award.
HARRE NAMED ACADEMIC ALL-AMERICAN
Junior first baseman Shaye Harre earned second-team Academic All-America honors from CoSIDA after an outstanding season. Harre, who holds a 3.89 GPA in animal sciences, hit .368 in 2016 with a .728 slugging percentage in 2016. Her 1.245 OPS was among the top-20 nationally, and she led the Missouri Valley Conference with a .517 on-base percentage. Harre became the 25th Academic All-American in Saluki Softball history. Southern's 25 Academic All-America honors rank second all-time in Division I Softball history.
HARRE, JONES NAMED TO ALL-REGION TEAMS
Shaye Harre and Brianna Jones both earned spots on the All-Mideast Region team after outstanding seasons in 2016. Harre earned first-team All-Region honors at first base after hitting for both exceptional average (.368 average on the season) and exceptional power (.728 slugging percentage was among top-50 nationally). Brianna Jones was among the national leaders in every pitching category all season, ending the year ranked sixth in shutouts and 25th in wins.
SIX DAWGS NAMED ALL-MVC
For the first time since 2012, six Southern Illinois softball players earned All-Conference honors. Brianna Jones, who led the conference in wins, and Shaye Harre, who led the conference in on-base percentage, were first-team All-MVC selections. Savanna Dover, Kelsey Gonzalez and Sydney Jones were all named second-team honorees, the first career All-MVC honor for each. And Merri Anne Patterson was named to the MVC All-Defensive team for the second-straight season after hosing down seven runners from the outfield.
FIELD DEDICATED TO COACH B
The field at Charlotte West Stadium was dedicated to Hall-of-Fame coach Kay Brechtelsbauer before the final home series of the regular season. Coach B served as head coach of the Saluki Softball program for 32 years and retired as the all-time winningest coach in Missouri Valley Conference softball history. SIU's first win on "Brechtelsbauer Field" was also the 200th win for the program at Charlotte West Stadium, which opened for the 2003 season.
DAWGS PILE UP MVC WEEKLY HONORS
SIU earned MVC Player, Pitcher or Newcomer of the Week nine times in 2016, the most by the program in any single season since 2005. Brianna Jones earned more than half of those honors, grabbing three MVC Pitcher of the Week honors and three more MVC Newcomer of the Week awards. Shaye Harre earned MVC Player of the Week twice in 2016 and now has three MVC Player of the Week honors and one MVC Newcomer of the Week honor in her outstanding career. Jessica Heese earned SIU's final MVC Player of the Week award in 2016 after piling up nine RBIs in SIU's series win over Missouri State.
SALUKI PITCHING FUELS SUCCESS
Southern Illinois led the conference in earned run average at 2.45 over 52 games, marking the program's best team ERA since 2010. Southern's 15 shutouts were the most for the program since 2007 (18). Brianna Jones earned MVC Pitcher of the Week honors three times after throwing 10 shutouts. The pitching staff of Jones, Savanna Dover and Nicole Doyle only allowed 17 home runs in 343.0 innings, the fewest home runs allowed by any MVC team since 2011 and fewest SIU has allowed since 2005.
DOVER AMONG MVC'S BEST
Savanna Dover made a huge leap from her freshman to sophomore seasons and proved to be one of the conference's top pitcher in 2016. After going 1-5 with a 5.09 ERA in 2015, Dover won nine games and posted a 3.24 ERA as a sophomore in 2016, earning second-team All-MVC honors along the way. In one of the most incredible streaks in Division I softball in 2016, Dover did not allow a home run to 579 consecutive batters faced. No opponent hit a home run against Dover until the final weekend of the regular season, a span of nearly 120 innings.
DOYLE TOSSES NO-HITTER IN FIRST CAREER START
Freshman pitcher Nicole Doyle spent eight months recovering from a torn ACL suffered in late June. After throwing some relief innings the first weekend of March, Doyle threw a no-hitter in her first collegiate start. SIU beat Hartford 5-0 in the seven-inning game, and only one walk separated Doyle from a perfect game. She struck out seven and Hartford hitters went 0-for-21 from the plate against Doyle. The no-hitter was the first for an SIU pitcher since 2011 and the first for a freshman since 1997.
GONZ ENDS MAGICAL CAREER
Shortstop Kelsey Gonzalez ended her incredible career with an outstanding senior season. Gonz hit .309 and started all 52 games, earning second-team All-MVC honors for the first time in her career. She ended her career as a four-year starter with 198 career starts, 167 hits, 113 runs, 26 doubles and 65 RBIs. After the 2016 season came to a close, head coach Kerri Blaylock revealed that Gonzalez had played her final two seasons with a torn rotator cuff and urged future Salukis to learn from her example.
"I just want everyone in the world to know that Kelsey Gonzalez has been playing with a partial tear in her rotator cuff for two seasons," Blaylock said. "That kid is phenomenal. She's a leader. She embodies everything, and she carried us along. I couldn't say anything for two years because I didn't want anyone to take advantage of her arm, but she's just phenomenal. I want those five freshmen coming in next year to learn from these guys."
SALUKI SOFTBALL: THE NATION'S MOST WELL-ROUNDED PROGRAM
The Salukis are among the most well-balanced programs in the nation. Under head coach Kerri Blaylock (16 seasons), the Salukis have finished among the top-20 program-wide GPAs 15 times, including eight top-five finishes. This past year (2014-15), the Salukis had a 3.62 team GPA, the fourth-best in all of Division I softball. Under Blaylock, Southern Illinois has won 597 games, three MVC championships and gone to five NCAA Tournaments while finishing with a team GPA among the top-10 in the nation 11 times.
The Salukis have had at least two student-athletes earn first-team MVC Scholar-Athlete team honors for 19 consecutive seasons, and Saluki Softball has the second-most Academic All-Americans of any Division I softball program. SIU has had Academic All-Americans in back-to-back seasons, with Kalyn Harker earning the award in 2015 and Shaye Harre earning the honor in 2016.
Starting in 2004-05, the NCAA started recognizing programs for being among the top 10 percent of their sport for Academic Progress Rate. Southern Illinois and Loyola are the only two MVC schools to earn the honor even once, and the Salukis have earned it seven of the 10 years it has been awarded.
