Southern Illinoise University Athletics
Southern Illinois University
Jefferson College
Saluki Softball closes out fall slate with Saturday doubleheader
10/04/2019 | 11:53:00 | Softball
CARBONDALE, Ill. — The Southern Illinois University softball team will close out the fall portion of its 2019-20 schedule with a pair of games on Saturday, Oct. 5 at Charlotte West Stadium against Jefferson Community College (12 p.m.) and Missouri-St. Louis (2 p.m.).
SIU is coming off last Saturday's doubleheader sweep of Southeastern Illinois and Maryville University in which it scored 18 runs on 16 hits, of which 11 went for extra bases. 10 Salukis tallied at least one hit last weekend, including three with multiple hits. Southern's pitchers, meanwhile, scattered just nine hits across 12 innings of work.
Southern has won all six of its fall games by a combined score of 55-3 and are hitting .367 while holding foes to a .165 batting average. 14 of SIU's 15 hitters have tallied multiple hits this fall and all 15 have reached base at least once.
On the base paths, SIU is a perfect 10-for-10 in stolen bases, and the Saluki defense has committed just one error through six games. The pitching staff has allowed just two extra base hits during those six games, with 36 strikeouts to just 11 walks.
The Jefferson Community College Vikings are fresh off a season in which they went 41-14 and finished fourth in the NJCAA with a .407 team batting average. The Vikings return five of their top-10 hitters from last season, including Kristina Bettis, who hit .483.
The Tritons won the Great Lakes Valley Conference Championships and advanced to the NCAA Division II Tournament for the seventh-straight season. UMSL graduated their top hitter and their wins leader but return 12 letterwinners from a year ago.
Saturday's festivities kick off with SIU and Jefferson Comm. College going head-to-head at 12 p.m. before Southern and UMSL tangle at 2 p.m.
