Friday, February 23
Fort Myers, Fla.
9:00 A.M.
Southern Illinois University
5-4
6
vs
3
Wright State University
0-6
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
R
H
E
Raiders
0
3
0
0
0
0
0
3
7
2
Southern Illinois
1
0
0
1
4
0
X
6
6
0
Blaylock sets program wins record in a 10-inning epic
02/23/2018 | 6:41:00 | Softball
Saluki softball's head coach Kerri Blaylock earned her program-record setting 634th win following a doubleheader sweep of Wright State and Connecticut on the opening day of the FGCU/Four Points by Sheraton Invitational.
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With the win, Blaylock surpassed Saluki Hall of Famer and her former mentor Kay Brechtelsbauer for the all-time lead. Blaylock reached the milestone in less than 1,000 games. She is 634-352-1 all time and has a career winning percentage of .643. She is the fifth winningest coach in Missouri Valley Conference history.
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"My first fought was that if it were not for Coach B, I wouldn't even be here. The lady that I passed was the reason I had the opportunity. My second thought was its all about every player that has played for me since I've become head coach," Blaylock said. "It's all about them. I write a lineup card and put them out there. There's been some really good players over all of the years. It's really, really special. I don't think it will sink in until I'm retired someday down the line."
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The two wins were the first doubleheader sweep of the season. Southern's pitchers threw well in both games combining for 17 strikeouts. The Salukis had to come from behind in both games to improve to 6-4.
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"What I liked about today was our resiliency," Blaylock said. "We spoke as a team about how we had always been leading in the games we won. We wanted to take a step forward that if we got behind in games to know how to bounce back. I saw some kids make some adjustments with some at-bats."
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In the weekend opener, the Salukis took on Wright State and jumped out to an early lead when the Salukis loaded the bases following a leadoff hit-by-pitch from sophomore Maddy Vermejan and back-to-back walks from sophomores Susie Baranski and Katelyn Massa. Two batters later, Vermejan scored off of a sacrifice RBI to the third baseman hit by freshman Jenny Jansen.
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In the next frame, Wright State scored three times following a two-RBI triple from senior Kelly Dillow. On the next at-bat, a wild pitch allowed Dillow to score from third that put Wright State up 3-1 in the top of the second.
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In the bottom of the fourth, the Salukis struck again on a sacrifice RBI, this time off of the bat of freshman Maris Boelens. She grounded out to second to allow Jansen to score from third to make the score 3-2 in favor of Wright State.
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In the top of the fifth, the Salukis posted a four spot following a long inning and a throwing error. First, senior Haley Andrus hit a single to left field to score fellow senior Sydney Jones from third. One at-bat later, senior Savannah Fisher singled up the middle to score Jansen from third. A throwing error on the same play allowed Andrus and sophomore Kyleigh Decker to score to put Southern up 6-3.
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Senior Savanna Dover pitched 6.1 innings while striking out 9 and walking just 2 to earn her first win of the season. She allowed 3 runs on 7 hits. Junior pitcher Brianna Jones earned her first save of the season after entering in the seventh inning with one out.
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"I'm really glad Savanna Dover settled in and got the win," Blaylock said. "To me, she's becoming such a senior leader and is just so stable."
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With the win, Southern improved to 5-4 and Wright State fell to 0-6. Blaylock tied the all-time lead at SIU with the victory.
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In the second game against UConn, Brianna Jones pitched for the Salukis again after earning the save in the previous game.
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The Huskies opened the scoring in the bottom of the second when two scored following an error at first base.
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In the fourth, Decker made up for her mistake in the field with a single to right field that scored Sydney Jones from second, who doubled earlier in the inning. The RBI single cut the UConn lead in half and made the score 2-1.
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"Kyleigh is such an athletic individual. She's strong and she's learning the position. I honestly think she is becoming a very, very good first baseman," Blaylock said. "The mistake by her was something that won't happen again probably. I thought she came back well with the RBI and made some really good defensive plays."
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An inning later, Southern took a 3-2 lead following two RBI singles from Vermejan and Massa.
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In the bottom of the fifth, the Huskies struck again, this time when freshman Olivia Sappington hit an RBI single up the middle. The run scored resulted in Blaylock being tossed from the game following an argument with the first base umpire over if the hit landed fair or not.
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The game remained tied at 3-3 and went into extra innings for the first time this season for SIU. UConn nearly won the game in the bottom of the seventh with a sac fly to right field, but Baranski came up throwing after making the play and threw out sophomore catcher Devon Casazza at home to save the game.
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"We work on our bounce throws from the outfield and giving the catcher a good receivable ball. We worked on it hard and we worked on it yesterday," Blaylock said. "I'm really proud of [Susie Baranski]. She's worked really hard on her defensive skills and being able to do some things."
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In the top of the 10th, Southern dealt the decisive blows to the Huskies. Sydney Jones hit a single to left that scored Baranski from third. In the next at-bat, Jansen doubled to left to score Jones from first and put Southern up 5-3.
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Brianna Jones pitched all 10 innings in the game striking out 8 Huskies and walking only 4. She allowed an earned run on 9 hits. The win was her 5th of the season. She's now 5-0 with a 1.34 ERA.
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"Bri has shown a lot of guts and toughness over the last two weeks. She's thrown a lot of innings. She wants to be really good, her and Dover both do."
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The Huskies scored once in the bottom of the 10th, but the effort wasn't enough to defeat the Salukis. The win moved SIU to 6-4 on the season and earned Blaylock the all-time record in wins at SIU with her 634th.
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Southern closes out the FGCU/Four Points by Sheraton Invitational tomorrow with a double header against Stony Brook and Florida Gulf Coast.
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With the win, Blaylock surpassed Saluki Hall of Famer and her former mentor Kay Brechtelsbauer for the all-time lead. Blaylock reached the milestone in less than 1,000 games. She is 634-352-1 all time and has a career winning percentage of .643. She is the fifth winningest coach in Missouri Valley Conference history.
Â
"My first fought was that if it were not for Coach B, I wouldn't even be here. The lady that I passed was the reason I had the opportunity. My second thought was its all about every player that has played for me since I've become head coach," Blaylock said. "It's all about them. I write a lineup card and put them out there. There's been some really good players over all of the years. It's really, really special. I don't think it will sink in until I'm retired someday down the line."
Â
The two wins were the first doubleheader sweep of the season. Southern's pitchers threw well in both games combining for 17 strikeouts. The Salukis had to come from behind in both games to improve to 6-4.
Â
"What I liked about today was our resiliency," Blaylock said. "We spoke as a team about how we had always been leading in the games we won. We wanted to take a step forward that if we got behind in games to know how to bounce back. I saw some kids make some adjustments with some at-bats."
Â
In the weekend opener, the Salukis took on Wright State and jumped out to an early lead when the Salukis loaded the bases following a leadoff hit-by-pitch from sophomore Maddy Vermejan and back-to-back walks from sophomores Susie Baranski and Katelyn Massa. Two batters later, Vermejan scored off of a sacrifice RBI to the third baseman hit by freshman Jenny Jansen.
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In the next frame, Wright State scored three times following a two-RBI triple from senior Kelly Dillow. On the next at-bat, a wild pitch allowed Dillow to score from third that put Wright State up 3-1 in the top of the second.
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In the bottom of the fourth, the Salukis struck again on a sacrifice RBI, this time off of the bat of freshman Maris Boelens. She grounded out to second to allow Jansen to score from third to make the score 3-2 in favor of Wright State.
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In the top of the fifth, the Salukis posted a four spot following a long inning and a throwing error. First, senior Haley Andrus hit a single to left field to score fellow senior Sydney Jones from third. One at-bat later, senior Savannah Fisher singled up the middle to score Jansen from third. A throwing error on the same play allowed Andrus and sophomore Kyleigh Decker to score to put Southern up 6-3.
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Senior Savanna Dover pitched 6.1 innings while striking out 9 and walking just 2 to earn her first win of the season. She allowed 3 runs on 7 hits. Junior pitcher Brianna Jones earned her first save of the season after entering in the seventh inning with one out.
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"I'm really glad Savanna Dover settled in and got the win," Blaylock said. "To me, she's becoming such a senior leader and is just so stable."
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With the win, Southern improved to 5-4 and Wright State fell to 0-6. Blaylock tied the all-time lead at SIU with the victory.
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In the second game against UConn, Brianna Jones pitched for the Salukis again after earning the save in the previous game.
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The Huskies opened the scoring in the bottom of the second when two scored following an error at first base.
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In the fourth, Decker made up for her mistake in the field with a single to right field that scored Sydney Jones from second, who doubled earlier in the inning. The RBI single cut the UConn lead in half and made the score 2-1.
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"Kyleigh is such an athletic individual. She's strong and she's learning the position. I honestly think she is becoming a very, very good first baseman," Blaylock said. "The mistake by her was something that won't happen again probably. I thought she came back well with the RBI and made some really good defensive plays."
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An inning later, Southern took a 3-2 lead following two RBI singles from Vermejan and Massa.
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In the bottom of the fifth, the Huskies struck again, this time when freshman Olivia Sappington hit an RBI single up the middle. The run scored resulted in Blaylock being tossed from the game following an argument with the first base umpire over if the hit landed fair or not.
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The game remained tied at 3-3 and went into extra innings for the first time this season for SIU. UConn nearly won the game in the bottom of the seventh with a sac fly to right field, but Baranski came up throwing after making the play and threw out sophomore catcher Devon Casazza at home to save the game.
Â
"We work on our bounce throws from the outfield and giving the catcher a good receivable ball. We worked on it hard and we worked on it yesterday," Blaylock said. "I'm really proud of [Susie Baranski]. She's worked really hard on her defensive skills and being able to do some things."
Â
In the top of the 10th, Southern dealt the decisive blows to the Huskies. Sydney Jones hit a single to left that scored Baranski from third. In the next at-bat, Jansen doubled to left to score Jones from first and put Southern up 5-3.
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Brianna Jones pitched all 10 innings in the game striking out 8 Huskies and walking only 4. She allowed an earned run on 9 hits. The win was her 5th of the season. She's now 5-0 with a 1.34 ERA.
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"Bri has shown a lot of guts and toughness over the last two weeks. She's thrown a lot of innings. She wants to be really good, her and Dover both do."
Â
The Huskies scored once in the bottom of the 10th, but the effort wasn't enough to defeat the Salukis. The win moved SIU to 6-4 on the season and earned Blaylock the all-time record in wins at SIU with her 634th.
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Southern closes out the FGCU/Four Points by Sheraton Invitational tomorrow with a double header against Stony Brook and Florida Gulf Coast.
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Team Stats
Pitching:
W: Dover, Savanna (1-3)
L: SHARP (0-5)
S: Jones, Brianna (1)
Batting:
3B: DILLOW 1
RBI: DILLOW 2
Base Running:
RUNS: POULSON 1 ; MILLS 1 ; DILLOW 1
SB: POULSON 1 ; MILLS 1
Batting:
RBI: Jansen, Jenny 1 ; Andrus, Haley 1 ; Fisher, Savannah 2 ; Boelens, Maris 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Vermejan, Maddy 1 ; Jones, Sydney 1 ; Jansen, Jenny 2 ; Decker, Kyleigh 1 ; Andrus, Haley 1
HBP: Vermejan, Maddy 1
Game Leaders
Hitting
c/3b
AB
4
R
1
H
2
RBI
0
AB
3
R
1
H
2
RBI
1
AB
4
R
2
H
1
RBI
1
ss/pr
AB
2
R
0
H
1
RBI
2
Players Mentioned
INF
/ Softball
OF
/ Softball
OF
/ Softball
INF
/ Softball
P
/ Softball
UTIL
/ SoftballIF/OF
/ Softball
P
/ Softball
C/INF
/ Softball
C/DP
/ Softball
INF
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