Southern Illinois University
7-6
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Mississippi State University
10-3
Salukis to play in February Freezer championship
02/25/2017 | 11:30:00 | Softball
STARKVILLE, MISS. - The Southern Illinois University softball program will play in the February Freezer championship tomorrow against Mississippi State, after going 1-1 today.
SIU's day started off with a heartbreaking 5-2 loss to the host team, MSU. Brianna Jones got the ball for the Salukis and didn't disappoint. The sophomore didn't allow a single run the first four innings and gave up only four hits.
"For her to go out and pitch the way she did it was tremendous," head coach Kerri Blaylock said. "She was still dealing with Influenza A and she gritted it out for us."
Both teams put runs on the board in the fifth inning. In the top half the Salukis received a two-run bomb off the scoreboard from Sydney Jones, giving SIU a 2-0 lead. The home run was Jones' fourth this season and 16th of her career.Â
Trailing, 2-0, the Bulldogs responded with runs of their own in the bottom half. MSU got five runs off of five hits and an error, to take a 5-2 lead.Â
SIU was able to get three more runners on the next inning and a half, but were unable to get them across the plate, keeping the score the same.
"We made a couple of mistakes in a critical times," Blaylock said. "It wasn't lack of effort or lack of focus. We just didn't get the job done."
Game two was a rematch against Eastern Illinois, which SIU played on Friday and lost, 7-0. Nicole Doyle received the start for the Salukis this time around and held the Panthers in check the whole game. Doyle started the game nearly flawless, only giving up two hits the first two innings. She allowed six hits in her five innings of work.
SIU put up two runs in the first inning, getting an early 2-0 lead. Susie Baranski started the game with a single, followed by Maddy Vermejan being hit by a pitch. With runners at second and first, Merri Anne Patterson laid down a sacrifice bunt to move them to second and third. Sydney Jones hit a long fly ball to bring in Baranski and then Katelyn Massa singled up the middle two batters later, adding another run for SIU. It was Massa's first career hit as a Saluki.Â
In the bottom of the third Eastern was able to string some hits together to tie the score up at two apiece. After giving up the two runs, Doyle struck out two-straight to end EIU's run. Doyle finished the day with eight total strikeouts.Â
The score remained 2-2 until the top of the sixth. Hits from Jones and Harre, and a walk from Massa loaded the bases for Haley Andrus. The newcomer took one off the arm to bring in a run, regaining the lead for Southern. After two quick outs, Eyrika Brandenburg came in to pinch hit with the bases still loaded. She worked a full count and then hit a shot into the right center gap to clear the bases, giving SIU a 7-2 lead.
Eastern responded with three more runs the next two innings, but the Salukis held off their late game charge to win, 7-5.Â
"I was really proud of them for how they turned it around against Eastern Illinois," Blaylock said. "We competed really well. We had positive energy the whole game and came out on top."
Tomorrow, the Salukis get another chance at Mississippi State. The two teams are playing in the championship game at 1:30 p.m and can be watched on the SEC Network.
"The last time we came down here this is exactly what happened and we ended up beating them in the championship," Blaylock said. "We're depleted in some areas, but we're going to go out and compete really hard and give it our all."
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Team Stats
Pitching:
W: C. Knudsen (1-2)
L: Jones, Brianna (3-2)
S: A. Silkwood (3)
Batting:
2B: Harre, Shaye 1
HR: Jones, Sydney 1
RBI: Jones, Sydney 2
SH: Andrus, Haley 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Baranski, Susie 1 ; Jones, Sydney 1
SB: Brandenburg, Eyrika 1 ; Patterson, Merri Anne 1
CS: Patterson, Merri Anne 1
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Batting:
2B: B. Robinson 1
RBI: B. Robinson 1 ; K. Moore 1 ; O. Golden 1 ; C. Seitz 2
Base Running:
RUNS: B. Robinson 1 ; K. Moore 1 ; O. Golden 1 ; C. Carter 1 ; E Heimberger 1
SB: B. Robinson 1 ; K. Moore 1
CS: B. Robinson 1
