Outstanding pitching earns Southern a series win at Evansville

Saturday, April 28

Evansville, IN

12:00 p.m.

Southern Illinois University

25-20, 8-11

University of Evansville

14-30, 7-14

Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	Runs R	Hits H	Errors E
Southern Illinois	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	1	7	3
Evansville	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	6	3

Outstanding pitching earns Southern a series win at Evansville

04/28/2018 | 10:21:00 | Softball

Box Score 1 Box Score 2

By: Tony McDaniel, SIUSalukis.com

The Salukis and Purple Aces broke an NCAA softball record today in a 16-inning game and the Salukis completed a seventh inning comeback in game two to take an important series win on the road.

Southern and Evansville combined to strikeout a total of 58 batters in two games that took a total of six hours and 47 minutes to play. In game one, Southern won 1-0 and took game two 5-3.

"Playing a 16-inning game was something, but we fought all day," head coach Kerri Blaylock said. "Both pitchers threw great. Brianna Jones competed so hard today. We had our opportunities, but [Morgan] Florey is a great pitcher herself. I give the kids all the credit in the world for just battling. That's what you have to do sometimes."

Game one was a classic pitcher's duel between two of the Missouri Valley Conference's top strikeout artists. Florey entered the game leading the league in strikeouts with 253 and Jones was third with 146 K's. The two did not disappoint.

Both pitchers went the distance for their teams and combined to strike out 46 batters to break the NCAA record for combined strikeouts in a game by two starting pitchers. The previous record was 45 set in 2016 in a game between Eastern Kentucky and Eastern Illinois. Jones set the program record for strikeouts in a single-game with 20. The previous record was 18 and was shared by Carissa Winters and Danielle Glosson.

Jones allowed only five hits while Florey gave up seven in 16 innings.

While the game remained scoreless for 15 and a half innings, Evansville nearly ended the game twice, but Southern played outstanding defense to keep the game alive.

In the bottom of the 11^th, the Purple Aces had a runner on first with two outs when the team singled to left-center center. Evansville's Eryn Gould attempted to go from first to home to win the game, but senior Savannah Fisher threw a strike to her cutoff Sydney Jones who relayed the ball to home to mow down Gould for the third out of the inning.

An inning later, Florey stood at third to represent the winning run when shortstop Jenny Jansen fielded a hard-hit ball cleanly for one out and took the ball to third herself to double up Florey who broke for home on contact. The unassisted double play was the final two outs of the inning.

"Fish making that throw to set up the play at the plate was huge. We made some great plays today," Blaylock said.

In the top of the 16^th, the Salukis broke the deadlock by playing small ball. Sophomore Susie Baranski led off the inning with a bunt single. In the next at-bat Florey threw the ball away on a throw to first that allowed freshman Maris Boelens to reach safely and allowed Baranski to score to give Southern a 1-0 lead.

"When you play defensively that well and pitch that well, you just look for your opportunity," Blaylock said. "You tell them not to be afraid to be in games like this. This is what it's about. We were going to figure out a way somehow."

The small margin was enough for Jones. She forced three groundball outs in the final frame to win her 21^st game of the season. She was phenomenal in the victory, striking out 20, walking one and forcing 11 to groundout and another 14 to fly out. The win was Blaylock's 300th in MVC play. She is just the third coach in Conference history to reach that mark.

In game two, it was Senior Savanna Dover who took the mound and threw a gem of her own.

The senior captain tied a career-high with 10 strikeouts and allowed only three hits in her fifth win of the season.

It took 16 innings for Southern to score in game one, but just one in game two. Freshmen Megan Brown and Shelby Hodo both singled in the top of the second and Savannah Fisher drew a walk to load the bases. Baranski drew a walk in the next at-bat to give Southern an early 1-0 lead.

In the top of the third, sophomore Jenny Jansen hit her seventh home run of the year to make the score 2-0. Jansen went 4-10 on the day with two runs scored, an RBI and a walk.

"Jenny Jansen was very, very special. She kind of put us on her back today and we needed that," Blaylock said.

In the bottom of the fourth, Evansville took its first lead of the day. The Purple Aces led off the inning with a single which was followed by a home run by Florey to make the score 2-2. A solo-shot later in the inning gave Evansville a 3-2 advantage.

The inning was Dover's only stumble in the game. She didn't allow a hit in any of the other six innings she threw in.

The lead held into the top of the seventh when Jansen sparked a rally. With one out Jansen reached on an error by the Evansville shortstop. Massa singled in the next at-bat to advance Jansen to second. Senior Sydney Jones would then single to score Jansen and tie the game. Two at-bats later, a wild pitch handed Southern a 4-3 lead. Freshman Maris Boelens added insurance with an RBI single to give Southern a 5-3 lead that would hold up thanks to a flawless seventh inning from Dover.

"Savannah threw really, really well. I told her she had just one inning and she refocused and finished out the game. She threw a really good game. She should be able to throw those games and win them. I was really happy that she did that."

Southern's series win over Evansville with a game to play moved the Salukis to 26-20 on the season and 9-11 in MVC play. The Salukis are now in sole-possession of fifth place with a half-game lead over Northern Iowa and Valparaiso who are 9-12 in the MVC. The Salukis also seem to have snapped out of their toughest stretch of the season. Southern went 3-7 in a stretch of 10 games from April 5 to April 18, but have won four of the last five since.

The Salukis will go for the sweep tomorrow in the series finale at Evansville. The game is set for an 11 a.m. start.