Massa's walkoff lifts Salukis to doubleheader split

Friday, April 13

Carbondale, Ill.

1:00 p.m.

Southern Illinois University

21-16, 4-7

Indiana State University

19-18, 6-6

Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	Runs R	Hits H	Errors E
Indiana State	1	0	1	1	2	0	0	5	9	0
Southern Illinois	0	1	0	0	0	0	1	2	3	3

04/13/2018 | 8:54:00 | Softball

Box Score 1 Box Score 2

By: Tony McDaniel, SIUSalukis.com

It was nearly a day to forget for the Salukis, but sophomore catcher Katelyn Massa changed that with a simple swing of the bat.

Southern trailed Indiana State 2-1 in the seventh inning of game two of a doubleheader. The Salukis entered the seventh after eight of its previous nine batters had been retired by Indiana State's pitchers. Then in the seventh, the bats woke up.

With one out in the seventh, freshman Maris Boelens singled. Two batters later, sophomore Susie Baranski stepped up with two out and drove a pitch into left-field for a double to put runners on second and third for Massa. With a 1-0 count, Massa curled a ball into the left field corner to score Boelens and Baranski to clinch a 3-2 win for Southern.

"In previous at-bats I asked what people had seen. We'd already seen her once and you never know what she could be doing. I was just making sure that the ball was still going to be low," Massa said. "It just so happened the ball was low and in, and I just heard someone say 'turn on it'."

Massa's walk-off double put the Salukis over Indiana State to earn a doubleheader split and move to 22-16 and 5-7 in the MVC.

"What a boost, Maris, Susie and Massa gave us and quite honestly Savannah Dover's pitching performance was as good as she's had all year. She gave us a chance." Head coach Kerri Blaylock. "Now you hope that when you win one like this that it gives you momentum going forward."

Indiana State scored first in game two when Bella Peterson hit an RBI single. In the first, starting pitcher Savannah Dover hit a batter, allowed and RBI single and double before striking out the final batter of the inning. Following the strike out, Dover settled in and retired nine of the next 10 batters she faced.

In the bottom of the third, the Salukis equaled the game at 1-1 when Massa hit a sacrifice fly to center to score Boelens from third. Massa went 1-3 with three RBI and a double in game two. They were her 37^th, 38^th and 39^th RBIs of the season. She is now 11 RBIs from tying the single-season RBIs record at SIU.

Brianna Jones entered the game in the top of the seventh and earned the win after taking a tough luck loss in game one. She is now 18-5 on the season with a 1.93 ERA.

In game one, Jones got the start and pitched from behind nearly immediately when Indiana State scored in the top of the first when Peterson hit a single to score a runner from third.

In the bottom of the second, Southern tied the game when sophomore first baseman Kyleigh Decker scored from second off a sacrifice bunt off the bat of freshman Megan Brown.

Indiana State regained the lead in the top of the third and went on to score four more. Southern scored once in the bottom of the seventh but the comeback stalled and Indiana State won 5-2.

Jones gave up nine hits, but also struck out nine, her second-highest single-game total this year, and allowed just two earned runs.

Southern will be back in action tomorrow at noon. when it looks to win the series over the Sycamores.