Friday, March 9
Tampa, Fla.
10:30 a.m.
Southern Illinois University
10-8
10
vs
2
Delaware State University
1-11
1
2
3
4
5
R
H
E
Delaware State
1
0
0
1
0
2
2
0
Southern Illinois
2
4
0
0
4
10
13
0
Offense, dominant pitching earn Salukis a double header sweep
03/09/2018 | 7:16:00 | Softball
The Salukis were on the right side of an offensive explosion and a dominant pitching performance in today's sweep over Delaware State and Quinnipiac at the USF Under Armour Showcase in Clearwater, Florida today.
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"I'm really happy to come down here and get two wins right off the bat," head coach Kerri Blaylock said. "I thought we settled in in the first game and Savanna Dover and Megan Brown did a really good job. We hit the ball really, really well. In the second game, Brianna Jones threw another great game and the pitcher for Quinnipiac did a great job. We hit several balls hard and fought out a win."
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In the opener against Delaware State, it was the Hornets that struck first when the team's leadoff hitter, senior Khaliyah Flournory, hit a home run to left to give her team an early 1-0 lead.
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Southern answered in the bottom of the first when sophomore Katelyn Massa hit a two-run home run to put Southern up 2-1. The bomb was Massa's fifth home run of the year and her 17th and 18th RBI of the season; she leads the Salukis in both categories.
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In the bottom of the second inning, the Salukis poured on the offense. Freshman Megan Brown started the inning off with a single. Fellow freshman Maris Boelens pinch ran for Brown and scored on the next-at bat when senior Sydney Jones tripled to make the score 3-1. Two batters later, senior Savanna Fisher hit her second home run of the season, this time it was a two-run shot for her seventh and eighth RBI of the year to make the score 5-1. Southern closed out the inning with another run off of a miscue by the Hornet infield that allowed sophomore Maddy Vermejan to score from second. Southern led 6-1 at the end of the second inning.
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In the top of the fourth, Delaware State struck again with another homerun to make the score 6-2.
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In the bottom of the fifth, Southern put a stop to the game when it struck for four more runs. First, senior Haley Andrus entered the game as a pinch hitter and doubled to score Jones and Brown to make the score 8-2. Three batters later, Vermejan singled to score Andrus and sophomore Susie Baranski. The hit ended the game by way of the mercy rule.
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"We we're really locked in on offense today. The team did a good job listening to the advice that Jen [Sewell] gave them." Blaylock said.
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Senior Savanna Dover earned the win in the game, it was her second of the year. She allowed two hits, walked four and struck out one in 4.1 innings of work. Brown pitched the final two-thirds of the fifth inning. She did not allow a base runner.
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In the second game, Southern's starter, Junior Brianna Jones, and Quinnipiac's Casey Herzog dueled throughout the game.
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Jones threw one of her better games of the season allowing just three hits, a walk and striking out six in nine full innings of work.
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Through the first three innings, the Salukis earned just one hit off of Herzog, but the second time through the order was different for Southern.
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"We adjusted well and sometimes you don't score runs when you're adjusting," Blaylock said. "I thought they did a great job and made some play to keep us off the score board, but we just kept battling. I was happy with our offense in the second game. We stung the ball really hard."
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Despite Southern hitting the ball hard and loading the bases in the fifth, the remained scoreless into extra innings and into the ninth inning. In the bottom half, Jansen started out on second by way of the international tiebreaker rule. Brown dropped down a sacrifice bunt to advance her to third. In the next at-bat, Sydney Jones dropped a bunt down to score Jansen from third and give the Salukis their first walk-off win of the season.
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Syndey Jones' bunt also earned Brianna Jones a hard-fought win. She improved to 9-1 on the season.
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"I thought we did a good job with our pitching today," Blaylock said. "Savanna was a little hard on herself and wanted to do better. Obviously you critique yourself, but all three of our kids did a good job today."
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Southern is back in action tomorrow with two more game in Clearwater. Southern will take on Rider and UCF in its second-straight double header.
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"I'm really happy to come down here and get two wins right off the bat," head coach Kerri Blaylock said. "I thought we settled in in the first game and Savanna Dover and Megan Brown did a really good job. We hit the ball really, really well. In the second game, Brianna Jones threw another great game and the pitcher for Quinnipiac did a great job. We hit several balls hard and fought out a win."
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In the opener against Delaware State, it was the Hornets that struck first when the team's leadoff hitter, senior Khaliyah Flournory, hit a home run to left to give her team an early 1-0 lead.
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Southern answered in the bottom of the first when sophomore Katelyn Massa hit a two-run home run to put Southern up 2-1. The bomb was Massa's fifth home run of the year and her 17th and 18th RBI of the season; she leads the Salukis in both categories.
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In the bottom of the second inning, the Salukis poured on the offense. Freshman Megan Brown started the inning off with a single. Fellow freshman Maris Boelens pinch ran for Brown and scored on the next-at bat when senior Sydney Jones tripled to make the score 3-1. Two batters later, senior Savanna Fisher hit her second home run of the season, this time it was a two-run shot for her seventh and eighth RBI of the year to make the score 5-1. Southern closed out the inning with another run off of a miscue by the Hornet infield that allowed sophomore Maddy Vermejan to score from second. Southern led 6-1 at the end of the second inning.
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In the top of the fourth, Delaware State struck again with another homerun to make the score 6-2.
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In the bottom of the fifth, Southern put a stop to the game when it struck for four more runs. First, senior Haley Andrus entered the game as a pinch hitter and doubled to score Jones and Brown to make the score 8-2. Three batters later, Vermejan singled to score Andrus and sophomore Susie Baranski. The hit ended the game by way of the mercy rule.
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"We we're really locked in on offense today. The team did a good job listening to the advice that Jen [Sewell] gave them." Blaylock said.
Â
Senior Savanna Dover earned the win in the game, it was her second of the year. She allowed two hits, walked four and struck out one in 4.1 innings of work. Brown pitched the final two-thirds of the fifth inning. She did not allow a base runner.
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In the second game, Southern's starter, Junior Brianna Jones, and Quinnipiac's Casey Herzog dueled throughout the game.
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Jones threw one of her better games of the season allowing just three hits, a walk and striking out six in nine full innings of work.
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Through the first three innings, the Salukis earned just one hit off of Herzog, but the second time through the order was different for Southern.
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"We adjusted well and sometimes you don't score runs when you're adjusting," Blaylock said. "I thought they did a great job and made some play to keep us off the score board, but we just kept battling. I was happy with our offense in the second game. We stung the ball really hard."
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Despite Southern hitting the ball hard and loading the bases in the fifth, the remained scoreless into extra innings and into the ninth inning. In the bottom half, Jansen started out on second by way of the international tiebreaker rule. Brown dropped down a sacrifice bunt to advance her to third. In the next at-bat, Sydney Jones dropped a bunt down to score Jansen from third and give the Salukis their first walk-off win of the season.
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Syndey Jones' bunt also earned Brianna Jones a hard-fought win. She improved to 9-1 on the season.
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"I thought we did a good job with our pitching today," Blaylock said. "Savanna was a little hard on herself and wanted to do better. Obviously you critique yourself, but all three of our kids did a good job today."
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Southern is back in action tomorrow with two more game in Clearwater. Southern will take on Rider and UCF in its second-straight double header.
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Team Stats
Pitching:
W: Dover, Savanna (2-6)
L: Goldsby (1-5)
Batting:
HR: Flournory 1 ; Washington 1
RBI: Flournory 1 ; Washington 1
SH: Casey 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Flournory 1 ; Washington 1
CS: Barron 1
HBP: Hornbuckle 1
Batting:
2B: Andrus, Haley 1
3B: Jones, Sydney 1
HR: Massa, Katelyn 1 ; Fisher, Savannah 1
RBI: Vermejan, Maddy 2 ; Massa, Katelyn 2 ; Jansen, Jenny 1 ; Jones, Sydney 1 ; Andrus, Haley 2 ; Fisher, Savannah 2
Base Running:
RUNS: Baranski, Susie 1 ; Vermejan, Maddy 2 ; Massa, Katelyn 1 ; Brown, Megan 1 ; Boelens, Maris 1 ; Jones, Sydney 2 ; Andrus, Haley 1 ; Fisher, Savannah 1
CS: Baranski, Susie 1 ; Jansen, Jenny 1
Game Leaders
Hitting
AB
2
R
2
H
2
RBI
2
AB
2
R
1
H
2
RBI
2
AB
3
R
0
H
2
RBI
1
AB
3
R
2
H
2
RBI
1
Players Mentioned
INF
/ Softball
OF
/ Softball
OF
/ Softball
UT/P
/ Softball
P
/ Softball
P
/ Softball
C/INF
/ Softball
C/DP
/ Softball
INF
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