Softball hosts Lake Land and UMSL on Saturday

Saturday, September 23

Carbondale, Ill.

12 P.M.

Southern Illinois University

Lake Land College

09/22/2017 | 9:02:00 | Softball

Southern is 3-1 this fall

By: Tony McDaniel, SIUSalukis.com

Saluki softball is back in action this Saturday when Southern welcomes Missouri-St. Louis and Lake Land College to Charlotte West Stadium for the third-straight double header of the fall ball season.

Head coach Kerri Blaylock's Salukis are 3-1 following a weekend when the team split a set of games with Saint Louis and Murray State. The Salukis beat Saint Louis in the first game 3-2 before losing their first game of the fall to Murray 3-1.

The Salukis have been bolstered in their first four games by strong performances from their returning players. Blaylock said that her returning players will need to maintain the start to fall into the spring so that the Salukis are set to jump out of the gates in the first tournament in February.

In the short term, Blaylock said her sights are set on game one for Saturday.

"The fall has been a good jump start for us, but I don't ever look at what our records could be. We literally take things one game at a time and move on," Blaylock said. "I'm focused on Lake Land in our first game and then we will move on."

In that first game, Southern plays Lake Land College. The Lakers are returning eight players from their team in the spring of 2017.

In game two, the Salukis will host Missouri-St. Louis, a team that went 42-15 and hosted an NCAA Division II regional in 2017. The Tritons dropped two out of three games to Wayne State to put an end to their postseason run.

UMSL is bringing back eight upper-classmen from 2017 including the team's top hitter and pitcher. Last year, Serena Olsen led the charge UMSL. The junior hit .393 with 16 home runs and 65 RBI. Carly Kingery was the Triton's ace in 2017. She posted a 1.49 ERA with 219 strikeouts in 239.2 innings pitched.

UMSL is also well coached. The team is led by head coach Amanda Scott and assistant coach Lauren Lappin. Both coaches had very successful playing careers that led them to stints with professional teams and time with the U.S. National Softball Team. Lappin was a two-time All-American at Stanford and Scott was a four-time All-American at Fresno State.

"Both of our opponents had great years last year. Lakeland competes very well against Division I teams. With UMSL, they're coached by two of the best college softball players to ever play the game," Blaylock said. "The kids are going to be well coached and they have good pitching. We want to play very good teams to get us ready whether we're playing Division I, Division II or junior college opponents. They will challenge us and that's what we want."

Southern opens Saturday's action against Lake Land at noon. Lake Land will play UMSL in the second game which is slated for a 2 p.m. start. Southern and UMSL will face off in the final game on Saturday at 4 p.m. Admission to kids 12 and under is free.

For all of the updates with Saluki softball, be sure to follow the team on Twitter and Instagram @SIU_Softball and on Facebook at Saluki Softball.