Sunday, April 22
Peoria, IL
11:00 a.m.
Southern Illinois University
24-20, 7-11
9
at
14
Bradley University
17-25, 6-11
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
R
H
E
Southern Illinois
0
0
2
0
7
0
0
9
7
1
Bradley
0
10
2
0
1
1
X
14
12
2
Southern's comeback falls short against Bradley
04/22/2018 | 3:19:00 | Softball
In what was a fitting cap to an extraordinary weekend of softball, the Salukis played Bradley to a 14-9 finale in Peoria. Southern came back from nearly being short-gamed to make it a ball game.
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"We had incredible fight all weekend. We're at a different level right now with that," Head coach Kerri Blaylock said. Â "There were a couple of plays that happened early that let the flood gates open for Bradley. We bounced right back. This is probably the most abnormal weekend that I've had in 30 years as far a number of runs scored. It's an anomaly. I don't think that that's something that will happen all the time. I'm just so proud of our fight."
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Bradley jumped on top early by a huge margin when it scored 10 runs in the bottom of the second off of six hits and an error.
The lead seemed insurmountable, but Southern began chipping away immediately. In the top of the third, sophomore Maddy Vermejan got things rolling with a double to left, her second of the game. In the next at-bat, fellow sophomore Katelyn Massa homered to left to make the score 10-2.
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The home run gave Massa her 43rd and 44th RBIs of the season and moved her into a tie for sixth on SIU's single-season RBI list. She is now just seven RBIs from tying the program record of 51.
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In the bottom of the third, Bradley uncorked another homerun; a two run shot to make the score 12-2.
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The game remained scoreless into the fifth. Bradley was looking to run-rule the Salukis and had Southern down to its final out, but Southern had no plans of ending the game early. Senior Haley Andrus got things going with her second-straight successful pinch hit to give Southern a runner on. Freshman Maris Boelens pinch ran for her.
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In the next at-bat, Vermejan put a cap on her tremendous weekend with a inside-the-park home run to right field to make the score 12-4. Vermejan put together an incredible weekend going 5-12 at the plate with nine RBIs, three home runs, three doubles and a stolen base.
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Back-to-back errors and a walk allowed Southern to fill the bases and set up a grand slam from senior Sydney Jones. The four-RBI home run made the score 12-9.
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Southern successfully extended the game despite being down by 10 runs heading into the fifth. Unfortunately, the Salukis did not have enough left in the tank to top the Braves. Bradley would score twice more to make the final score 14-9.
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The Salukis aren't done yet in this marathon stretch of six games in six days. The Salukis host second-place Missouri State tomorrow at Charlotte West Stadium.
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"This is a hard stretch. When Wichita left the Conference it made Missouri State our travel partner and this is what we're left with," Blaylock said. "Neither one of us are happy about it that we have to do it this way, but we're doing it for each other. I didn't want to make Missouri State go all the way to Springfield then drive all the way back to Carbondale. It just isn't right for the student-athletes. We decided to play this game tomorrow. It is what it is and we're going to be ready to go."
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The game is set for a noon start. Rain is in the forecast so follow along on Twitter @SIU_Salukis for any changes to the schedule.
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"We had incredible fight all weekend. We're at a different level right now with that," Head coach Kerri Blaylock said. Â "There were a couple of plays that happened early that let the flood gates open for Bradley. We bounced right back. This is probably the most abnormal weekend that I've had in 30 years as far a number of runs scored. It's an anomaly. I don't think that that's something that will happen all the time. I'm just so proud of our fight."
Â
Bradley jumped on top early by a huge margin when it scored 10 runs in the bottom of the second off of six hits and an error.
The lead seemed insurmountable, but Southern began chipping away immediately. In the top of the third, sophomore Maddy Vermejan got things rolling with a double to left, her second of the game. In the next at-bat, fellow sophomore Katelyn Massa homered to left to make the score 10-2.
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The home run gave Massa her 43rd and 44th RBIs of the season and moved her into a tie for sixth on SIU's single-season RBI list. She is now just seven RBIs from tying the program record of 51.
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In the bottom of the third, Bradley uncorked another homerun; a two run shot to make the score 12-2.
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The game remained scoreless into the fifth. Bradley was looking to run-rule the Salukis and had Southern down to its final out, but Southern had no plans of ending the game early. Senior Haley Andrus got things going with her second-straight successful pinch hit to give Southern a runner on. Freshman Maris Boelens pinch ran for her.
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In the next at-bat, Vermejan put a cap on her tremendous weekend with a inside-the-park home run to right field to make the score 12-4. Vermejan put together an incredible weekend going 5-12 at the plate with nine RBIs, three home runs, three doubles and a stolen base.
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Back-to-back errors and a walk allowed Southern to fill the bases and set up a grand slam from senior Sydney Jones. The four-RBI home run made the score 12-9.
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Southern successfully extended the game despite being down by 10 runs heading into the fifth. Unfortunately, the Salukis did not have enough left in the tank to top the Braves. Bradley would score twice more to make the final score 14-9.
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The Salukis aren't done yet in this marathon stretch of six games in six days. The Salukis host second-place Missouri State tomorrow at Charlotte West Stadium.
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"This is a hard stretch. When Wichita left the Conference it made Missouri State our travel partner and this is what we're left with," Blaylock said. "Neither one of us are happy about it that we have to do it this way, but we're doing it for each other. I didn't want to make Missouri State go all the way to Springfield then drive all the way back to Carbondale. It just isn't right for the student-athletes. We decided to play this game tomorrow. It is what it is and we're going to be ready to go."
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The game is set for a noon start. Rain is in the forecast so follow along on Twitter @SIU_Salukis for any changes to the schedule.
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Team Stats
Pitching:
W: Mahaffy (7-9)
L: Dover, Savanna (4-12)
Batting:
2B: Vermejan, Maddy 2
HR: Vermejan, Maddy 1 ; Massa, Katelyn 1 ; Jones, Sydney 1
RBI: Vermejan, Maddy 2 ; Massa, Katelyn 2 ; Jones, Sydney 4
Base Running:
RUNS: Boelens, Maris 1 ; Vermejan, Maddy 2 ; Massa, Katelyn 1 ; Turner, Brittany 1 ; Jansen, Jenny 1 ; Decker, Kyleigh 1 ; Wernig, Meredith 1 ; Jones, Sydney 1
HBP: Massa, Katelyn 1 ; Decker, Kyleigh 2
Batting:
2B: Seeton 1 ; Wysocki 2 ; Thompson 1
HR: Schroeder, M 1 ; Seeton 1
RBI: Leonard 1 ; Schroeder, M 4 ; Apke 1 ; Seeton 1 ; Wysocki 4 ; Stoner 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Leonard 2 ; Schroeder, M 2 ; Apke 1 ; Seeton 3 ; Mahaffy 1 ; Wysocki 2 ; Navarro 1 ; Thompson 1 ; Bane 1
CS: Leonard 1
HBP: Leonard 1
Game Leaders
Hitting
AB
4
R
2
H
3
RBI
2
AB
3
R
1
H
1
RBI
0
AB
1
R
0
H
1
RBI
0
AB
2
R
1
H
1
RBI
2
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