Sunday, March 11
Tampa, Fla.
10:15 a.m.
Southern Illinois University
13-9
6
vs
2
University of Maine
4-11
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
R
H
E
Southern Illinois
0
2
1
0
0
3
0
6
7
2
Maine
1
1
0
0
0
0
0
2
8
1
Salukis defeat Maine 6-2, Jones strikesout 10
03/11/2018 | 3:06:00 | Softball
Southern closed out the USF Under Armour Showcase in Clearwater, Florida on a positive note.
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Southern defeated Maine in 6-2 thanks to a complete game from Brianna Jones and a big performance from its underclassmen on offense. The Salukis have now won five of their last six games and won four out of five this weekend. The win came in Blaylock's 999th game as the Saluki skipper.
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"I thought we started out a little slow, but we regrouped," head coach Kerri Blaylock said. "I thought we hit the ball well again. Bri was a little fatigued today, but I thought she hung in there and did a really good job. Maine can swing it. I'm glad we came away with the W."
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It was Maine that struck first in the game. Southern's starter Brianna Jones and Maine's top-half of the order traded strikeouts and hits through the first four batters, but Maine's catcher, Maddie Decker, singled to score the runner from second and make the score 1-0.
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In the top of the second, the Salukis took a lead when senior Sydney Jones hit a ball to the Maine shortstop, the result was an error that allowed sophomore Meredith Wernig and freshman Megan Brown to score and give the Salukis a 2-1 lead.
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In the bottom half of the frame, Maine tied the game at 2-2 with a two-out RBI single. It was the last run of the game that the Black Bears would score. Jones finished the game with five-straight shutout innings.
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In the top of the third, freshman Jenny Jansen hit a solo-homerun to give Southern a 3-2 lead that it would not relinquish.
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Jansen hit .600 on the weekend with a home run, three RBI, five runs scored and two walks.
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In the top of the fifth, Maine had a solid opportunity to potentially take the lead when it loaded the bases with two outs, however, Jones struck out the final batter of the inning to kill any chance at scoring for the Black Bears.
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In the next inning, the Salukis added to their lead and put the game out of reach. First, sophomore Kyleigh Decker tripled to the opposite field to score freshman Maris Boelens and sophomore Katelyn Massa to make the score 5-2. In the next at-bat Sydney Jones hit a sacrifice fly to right that allowed Decker to score to make the score 6-2.
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Brianna Jones earned the win and improved to 11-1 on the season. It was her 11th complete game of the season. Jones tied a season-high in strikeouts with 10. She last struck out that many against Mercer on Feb., 16. Jones allowed eight hits total in the game, but just three in the final five innings.
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On the weekend, Jones was 3-0 and allowed just three runs in 21.2 innings. She struck out 23 and walked four while holding opposing hitters to a .181 batting average. She currently leads the Valley in wins and is second in strikeouts.
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With the USF Under Armour Showcase in the books, Southern turns its attention to a game against UT-Martin on Wednesday before beginning MVC play against Loyola at home on Saturday.
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"I want to go down to UT-Martin and play well to get ready for Conference," Blaylock said. "It's just a new little season that we start of and I just hope we continue to play well."
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Southern defeated Maine in 6-2 thanks to a complete game from Brianna Jones and a big performance from its underclassmen on offense. The Salukis have now won five of their last six games and won four out of five this weekend. The win came in Blaylock's 999th game as the Saluki skipper.
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"I thought we started out a little slow, but we regrouped," head coach Kerri Blaylock said. "I thought we hit the ball well again. Bri was a little fatigued today, but I thought she hung in there and did a really good job. Maine can swing it. I'm glad we came away with the W."
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It was Maine that struck first in the game. Southern's starter Brianna Jones and Maine's top-half of the order traded strikeouts and hits through the first four batters, but Maine's catcher, Maddie Decker, singled to score the runner from second and make the score 1-0.
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In the top of the second, the Salukis took a lead when senior Sydney Jones hit a ball to the Maine shortstop, the result was an error that allowed sophomore Meredith Wernig and freshman Megan Brown to score and give the Salukis a 2-1 lead.
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In the bottom half of the frame, Maine tied the game at 2-2 with a two-out RBI single. It was the last run of the game that the Black Bears would score. Jones finished the game with five-straight shutout innings.
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In the top of the third, freshman Jenny Jansen hit a solo-homerun to give Southern a 3-2 lead that it would not relinquish.
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Jansen hit .600 on the weekend with a home run, three RBI, five runs scored and two walks.
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In the top of the fifth, Maine had a solid opportunity to potentially take the lead when it loaded the bases with two outs, however, Jones struck out the final batter of the inning to kill any chance at scoring for the Black Bears.
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In the next inning, the Salukis added to their lead and put the game out of reach. First, sophomore Kyleigh Decker tripled to the opposite field to score freshman Maris Boelens and sophomore Katelyn Massa to make the score 5-2. In the next at-bat Sydney Jones hit a sacrifice fly to right that allowed Decker to score to make the score 6-2.
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Brianna Jones earned the win and improved to 11-1 on the season. It was her 11th complete game of the season. Jones tied a season-high in strikeouts with 10. She last struck out that many against Mercer on Feb., 16. Jones allowed eight hits total in the game, but just three in the final five innings.
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On the weekend, Jones was 3-0 and allowed just three runs in 21.2 innings. She struck out 23 and walked four while holding opposing hitters to a .181 batting average. She currently leads the Valley in wins and is second in strikeouts.
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With the USF Under Armour Showcase in the books, Southern turns its attention to a game against UT-Martin on Wednesday before beginning MVC play against Loyola at home on Saturday.
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"I want to go down to UT-Martin and play well to get ready for Conference," Blaylock said. "It's just a new little season that we start of and I just hope we continue to play well."
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Team Stats
Pitching:
W: Jones, Brianna (11-1)
L: Kennedy, Annie (2-2)
Batting:
3B: Decker, Kyleigh 1
HR: Jansen, Jenny 1
RBI: Jansen, Jenny 1 ; Decker, Kyleigh 2 ; Jones, Sydney 1
SH: Andrus, Haley 1
SF: Jones, Sydney 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Jansen, Jenny 1 ; Massa, Katelyn 1 ; Wernig, Meredith 1 ; Brown, Megan 1 ; Boelens, Maris 1 ; Decker, Kyleigh 1
SB: Fisher, Savannah 1
CS: Jansen, Jenny 1
Batting:
2B: Scribner, Shanna 1
RBI: Leonard, Erika 1 ; Decker, Maddie 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Leonard, Erika 1 ; Scribner, Shanna 1
Game Leaders
Hitting
AB
3
R
1
H
2
RBI
0
AB
3
R
1
H
2
RBI
0
AB
3
R
0
H
1
RBI
0
AB
3
R
1
H
1
RBI
1
Players Mentioned
OF
/ SoftballUT/P
/ Softball
INF
/ SoftballIF/OF
/ Softball
P
/ Softball
C/INF
/ Softball
C/DP
/ Softball
IF
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9.18.25 | Drew Steffe with Rodney Watson
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