Saturday, February 22
Fort Myers, Fla.
11:15 a.m. ET
Southern Illinois University
5-5
5
vs
4
Harvard University
1-3
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
R
H
E
Southern Illinois
3
0
0
0
2
0
0
5
5
1
Harvard
2
2
0
0
0
0
0
4
8
1
Softball extends win streak to six games with Saturday sweep
02/22/2020 | 9:00:00 | Softball
FORT MYERS, Fla. — The Southern Illinois softball program extended its win streak to six games with a Saturday sweep at the FGCU Classic. The Salukis (6-5) won a pair of one-run games, as they defeated Harvard, 5-4, and Michigan State, 2-1.
Southern worked its way above .500 for the first time this season after starting 0-5. The Salukis have shown an ability to win close games, as their last six wins have been decided by three runs or less.
"I keep telling the kids that through my experience coaching, I've seen winning streaks, losing streaks and weird things happen," 21st-year head coach Kerri Blaylock said. "All you have to do is work to improve every day. We're still not playing as well as we can, but we're finding ways to win, which is just as important."
GAME ONE: SOUTHERN ILLINOIS 5, HARVARD 4
Holly Marousek (1-0) was the star for the Salukis (6-5), as she had her best outing of the season. The junior hurler came in relief in the second inning with SIU down 4-3. She limited the Crimson (1-3) to no runs on only one hit in the remaining 5.2 innings of the game. In addition, she recorded no walks and struck out two. The stellar play earned Marousek her first victory of the season.
Southern Illinois jumped out to a 3-0 advantage in the opening frame. Maddy Vermejan led off the game with a walk and stole home to score SIU's first run. Kyleigh Decker drove in pinch runner Meredith Wernig and Ashley Wood on an infield single.
Harvard rallied back in front with a pair of runs off Saluki starting pitcher Claire Miller in the second and third inning.
Katelyn Massa broke the 4-3 deficit in the top of the fifth with a two-run home run. It was the second-straight game the senior catcher homered. She reached base in all three at-bats against the Crimson on two walks and one hit.
"I thought we got a great pitching performance from Holly," Blaylock said. "We also got timely hitting when we needed it. Massa's two-run bomb was a key example of the timely hitting."
Decker and Susie Baranski were other standouts offensively, as each tallied two hits. The Salukis were nearly flawless on defense, but did commit one error, which broke a three-game errorless streak.
GAME TWO: SOUTHERN ILLINOIS 2, MICHIGAN STATE 1
For the second-straight day, pitcher Sarah Harness (4-3) earned the win in the circle with a complete game. The freshman allowed just one run on six hits while striking out seven. Harness held her composure with runners on base, as she stranded Spartan base runners in five of the seven innings.
Michigan State (2-9) mustered its only run off Harness in the top of the third, which gave them a 1-0 lead. The Saluki offense produced three-straight hits in the bottom of the third, which included an RBI-double by Jenny Jansen to tie the game, 1-1.
The Salukis had the bases juiced later in the same inning, but could not convert the situation into any runs. In total, SIU stranded 10 runners on base.
SIU scored the game-winning run in the bottom of the sixth. Sikes got things going with a single to right field and Wernig came in to pinch run for her. Baranski then delivered a hard-hit double to deep left field, which scored Wernig from first.
"Meredith had a great jump on her run scored," Blaylock said. "If she doesn't read the double off the bat, then she doesn't score. Those little things are important and we talk about it all the time with the team. Everyone on this team has something they can contribute on a daily basis. Meredith stepped up huge for us on that play."
MSU reached base on a single in the seventh, but Harness retired her next two faced batters to clinch the win over the Big-Ten opponent.
"If we pitch, defend and get timely hitting, we are going to be okay," Blaylock said. "After the game, the kids were shaking their heads because they understand how much better we can still be."
NEXT UP
The Salukis finish out play at FGCU Classic on Sunday, Feb. 23 against UMass Lowell. First pitch is set for 8 a.m. CT.
Other notes: Coach Blaylock is one win shy of 700 for her career … Vermejan committed her first error since her sophomore season … Baranski went 2-for-3 in both games … Baranski collected two-plus hits for the fourth and fifth times this season … Decker drove in 2 RBI's for the fourth time in five games … Jansen has tabbed RBI's in three of her last four games … Marousek pitched five-plus scoreless innings for the second time in her SIU career … Harness has allowed one earned run in her last four appearances … Harness has combined for 20 strikeouts in her last two starts — she combined for 20 K's in her first six appearances.
Southern worked its way above .500 for the first time this season after starting 0-5. The Salukis have shown an ability to win close games, as their last six wins have been decided by three runs or less.
"I keep telling the kids that through my experience coaching, I've seen winning streaks, losing streaks and weird things happen," 21st-year head coach Kerri Blaylock said. "All you have to do is work to improve every day. We're still not playing as well as we can, but we're finding ways to win, which is just as important."
GAME ONE: SOUTHERN ILLINOIS 5, HARVARD 4
Holly Marousek (1-0) was the star for the Salukis (6-5), as she had her best outing of the season. The junior hurler came in relief in the second inning with SIU down 4-3. She limited the Crimson (1-3) to no runs on only one hit in the remaining 5.2 innings of the game. In addition, she recorded no walks and struck out two. The stellar play earned Marousek her first victory of the season.
Southern Illinois jumped out to a 3-0 advantage in the opening frame. Maddy Vermejan led off the game with a walk and stole home to score SIU's first run. Kyleigh Decker drove in pinch runner Meredith Wernig and Ashley Wood on an infield single.
Harvard rallied back in front with a pair of runs off Saluki starting pitcher Claire Miller in the second and third inning.
Katelyn Massa broke the 4-3 deficit in the top of the fifth with a two-run home run. It was the second-straight game the senior catcher homered. She reached base in all three at-bats against the Crimson on two walks and one hit.
"I thought we got a great pitching performance from Holly," Blaylock said. "We also got timely hitting when we needed it. Massa's two-run bomb was a key example of the timely hitting."
Decker and Susie Baranski were other standouts offensively, as each tallied two hits. The Salukis were nearly flawless on defense, but did commit one error, which broke a three-game errorless streak.
GAME TWO: SOUTHERN ILLINOIS 2, MICHIGAN STATE 1
For the second-straight day, pitcher Sarah Harness (4-3) earned the win in the circle with a complete game. The freshman allowed just one run on six hits while striking out seven. Harness held her composure with runners on base, as she stranded Spartan base runners in five of the seven innings.
Michigan State (2-9) mustered its only run off Harness in the top of the third, which gave them a 1-0 lead. The Saluki offense produced three-straight hits in the bottom of the third, which included an RBI-double by Jenny Jansen to tie the game, 1-1.
The Salukis had the bases juiced later in the same inning, but could not convert the situation into any runs. In total, SIU stranded 10 runners on base.
SIU scored the game-winning run in the bottom of the sixth. Sikes got things going with a single to right field and Wernig came in to pinch run for her. Baranski then delivered a hard-hit double to deep left field, which scored Wernig from first.
"Meredith had a great jump on her run scored," Blaylock said. "If she doesn't read the double off the bat, then she doesn't score. Those little things are important and we talk about it all the time with the team. Everyone on this team has something they can contribute on a daily basis. Meredith stepped up huge for us on that play."
MSU reached base on a single in the seventh, but Harness retired her next two faced batters to clinch the win over the Big-Ten opponent.
"If we pitch, defend and get timely hitting, we are going to be okay," Blaylock said. "After the game, the kids were shaking their heads because they understand how much better we can still be."
NEXT UP
The Salukis finish out play at FGCU Classic on Sunday, Feb. 23 against UMass Lowell. First pitch is set for 8 a.m. CT.
Other notes: Coach Blaylock is one win shy of 700 for her career … Vermejan committed her first error since her sophomore season … Baranski went 2-for-3 in both games … Baranski collected two-plus hits for the fourth and fifth times this season … Decker drove in 2 RBI's for the fourth time in five games … Jansen has tabbed RBI's in three of her last four games … Marousek pitched five-plus scoreless innings for the second time in her SIU career … Harness has allowed one earned run in her last four appearances … Harness has combined for 20 strikeouts in her last two starts — she combined for 20 K's in her first six appearances.
Team Stats
Pitching:
W: Harness, Sarah (4-3)
L: Ladd, S (1-7)
Batting:
2B: Ladd,C 1 ; Meech,M 1
RBI: Ladd,C 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Quinlan,K 1
Batting:
2B: Baranski, Susie 1 ; Vermejan, Maddy 1 ; Jansen, Jenny 1
RBI: Baranski, Susie 1 ; Jansen, Jenny 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Baranski, Susie 1 ; Wernig, Meredith 1
Game Leaders
Hitting
lf/rf
AB
3
R
1
H
2
RBI
1
AB
4
R
0
H
2
RBI
0
AB
4
R
0
H
1
RBI
1
AB
3
R
0
H
1
RBI
0
Players Mentioned
OF
/ Softball
INF
/ Softball
P
/ SoftballIF/OF
/ Softball
P
/ Softball
C/DP
/ Softball
P
/ SoftballINF
/ Softball
IF
/ Softball
IF
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