Friday, February 16
Columbia, S.C.
1:30 p.m.
Southern Illinois University
3-2
6
vs
1
Mercer University
4-1
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
R
H
E
Southern Illinois
1
2
2
1
0
0
0
6
6
0
Mercer
0
0
1
0
0
0
0
1
4
0
Salukis clobber previously undefeated Mercer 6-1
02/16/2018 | 7:26:00 | Softball
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Home runs and dominant pitching spurred Saluki softball (3-2) to a big victory over previously undefeated Mercer (4-1) on Friday at the Gamecock Invitational.
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Three home runs and six runs in the first four innings were enough to put the Salukis over the Bears, but junior pitcher Brianna Jones put a cherry on top by tossing a gem, striking out ten in a complete game, her third of the year.
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"We started off so well. [Katelyn] Massa started us off so well with that big bomb. We hit the ball extremely hard in the early innings," head coach Kerri Blaylock said. "[Brianna Jones] had another great pitching performance and we played really good defense today. It was just a good overall day."
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Southern opened the scoring with a bang in the top of the first when sophomore Katelyn Massa hit her second home run of the season over the left field wall to put the Salukis up 1-0.
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In the top of the second, freshman Jenny Jansen hit a solo shot off of the left-field foul pole to give Southern a 2-1 lead. The Salukis continued to get to Mercer's starter, senior Jill McElderry, throughout the inning. After Jansen's home run, she walked senior Savannah Fisher and freshmen Maris Boelens then hit sophomore Maddy Vermejan with a pitch inside to load the bases. McElderry got pulled from the game after just an inning and a third of work.
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Sophomore Stella Preston took over for McElderry and allowed a run to score on her first batter after giving up a sacrifice fly to sophomore Susie Baranski that allowed Fisher to score from third. The Salukis led 3-0 by the end of the second inning.
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In the top of the third, junior Jordan Spicer hit a one-out double for her first hit as a Saluki. In the next at bat sophomore Kyleigh Decker crushed a ball to right center for her first home run of the season. Her bomb put the Salukis up 5-0.
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Decker's home run was the ninth of the year for Southern. It is the most homers though five games since at least 2003.
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"The power in our bats are great, don't get me wrong, but I'll be happy to get some doubles and singles in there too," Blaylock said. "I think we have team speed and can do things in different ways, but I do feel we have power numbers one through nine."
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Mercer scored their only run of the game in the bottom of the third when Mercer's leadoff hitter, senior Meghan Rud, came around to score after freshman outfielder Allie Jones hit an RBI single into left.
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In the top of the fourth inning Massa closed out the scoring when she hit an RBI double into left that scored Vermejan who singled earlier in the inning. Massa finished the day 2-3 with 2 RBI and a walk.
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Jones was nearly perfect throughout. She allowed 4 hits a run and struck out a season-high 10 batters while walking just 1. Jones has already struck out 27 batters this season in 21 innings of work. She's walked just four hitters so far this year. The win moved her to 3-0 on the season. All three of her wins have been complete games.
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"Savanna Dover, Brianna, and Megan Brown and I talked about wanting to not get a late start. We wanted to be good early and we wanted to attack people early," Blaylock said. "The last couple of years we felt like we took a little bit to get going. We really focused on that in the preseason. [Jones] is just executing the plan."
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The Salukis are back in action tomorrow with two more games in the Gamecock Invitational. Southern will take on Georgetown in the first game at 1 p.m. central time and the hosts, South Carolina at 3:30 central time in the second.
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Home runs and dominant pitching spurred Saluki softball (3-2) to a big victory over previously undefeated Mercer (4-1) on Friday at the Gamecock Invitational.
Â
Three home runs and six runs in the first four innings were enough to put the Salukis over the Bears, but junior pitcher Brianna Jones put a cherry on top by tossing a gem, striking out ten in a complete game, her third of the year.
Â
"We started off so well. [Katelyn] Massa started us off so well with that big bomb. We hit the ball extremely hard in the early innings," head coach Kerri Blaylock said. "[Brianna Jones] had another great pitching performance and we played really good defense today. It was just a good overall day."
Â
Southern opened the scoring with a bang in the top of the first when sophomore Katelyn Massa hit her second home run of the season over the left field wall to put the Salukis up 1-0.
Â
In the top of the second, freshman Jenny Jansen hit a solo shot off of the left-field foul pole to give Southern a 2-1 lead. The Salukis continued to get to Mercer's starter, senior Jill McElderry, throughout the inning. After Jansen's home run, she walked senior Savannah Fisher and freshmen Maris Boelens then hit sophomore Maddy Vermejan with a pitch inside to load the bases. McElderry got pulled from the game after just an inning and a third of work.
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Sophomore Stella Preston took over for McElderry and allowed a run to score on her first batter after giving up a sacrifice fly to sophomore Susie Baranski that allowed Fisher to score from third. The Salukis led 3-0 by the end of the second inning.
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In the top of the third, junior Jordan Spicer hit a one-out double for her first hit as a Saluki. In the next at bat sophomore Kyleigh Decker crushed a ball to right center for her first home run of the season. Her bomb put the Salukis up 5-0.
Â
Decker's home run was the ninth of the year for Southern. It is the most homers though five games since at least 2003.
Â
"The power in our bats are great, don't get me wrong, but I'll be happy to get some doubles and singles in there too," Blaylock said. "I think we have team speed and can do things in different ways, but I do feel we have power numbers one through nine."
Â
Mercer scored their only run of the game in the bottom of the third when Mercer's leadoff hitter, senior Meghan Rud, came around to score after freshman outfielder Allie Jones hit an RBI single into left.
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In the top of the fourth inning Massa closed out the scoring when she hit an RBI double into left that scored Vermejan who singled earlier in the inning. Massa finished the day 2-3 with 2 RBI and a walk.
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Jones was nearly perfect throughout. She allowed 4 hits a run and struck out a season-high 10 batters while walking just 1. Jones has already struck out 27 batters this season in 21 innings of work. She's walked just four hitters so far this year. The win moved her to 3-0 on the season. All three of her wins have been complete games.
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"Savanna Dover, Brianna, and Megan Brown and I talked about wanting to not get a late start. We wanted to be good early and we wanted to attack people early," Blaylock said. "The last couple of years we felt like we took a little bit to get going. We really focused on that in the preseason. [Jones] is just executing the plan."
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The Salukis are back in action tomorrow with two more games in the Gamecock Invitational. Southern will take on Georgetown in the first game at 1 p.m. central time and the hosts, South Carolina at 3:30 central time in the second.
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Team Stats
Pitching:
W: Jones, Brianna (3-0)
L: McElderry (1-1)
Batting:
2B: Massa, Katelyn 1 ; Spicer, Jordan 1
HR: Massa, Katelyn 1 ; Decker, Kyleigh 1 ; Jansen, Jenny 1
RBI: Baranski, Susie 1 ; Massa, Katelyn 2 ; Decker, Kyleigh 2 ; Jansen, Jenny 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Vermejan, Maddy 1 ; Massa, Katelyn 1 ; Wernig, Meredith 1 ; Decker, Kyleigh 1 ; Jansen, Jenny 1 ; Fisher, Savannah 1
SB: Fisher, Savannah 1
HBP: Vermejan, Maddy 1 ; Decker, Kyleigh 1
Batting:
RBI: Jones 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Rud 1
SB: Rud 1
HBP: Sanchez 1
Game Leaders
Hitting
AB
3
R
1
H
2
RBI
2
AB
3
R
1
H
1
RBI
0
AB
4
R
0
H
1
RBI
0
AB
2
R
1
H
1
RBI
2
Players Mentioned
OF
/ Softball
OF
/ Softball
UT/P
/ Softball
INF
/ Softball
P
/ Softball
UTIL
/ Softball
IF/OF
/ Softball
P
/ Softball
C/DP
/ Softball1B/DP
/ Softball
INF
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