Southern Illinois University
20-3, 2-1
Drake University
5-15, 1-2
Salukis clinch series with 7-1 win over Bulldogs
03/21/2021 | 2:27:00 | Softball
CARBONDALE, Ill — Sophomore hurler Sarah Harness allowed just one run on four hits in the circle to lead the Southern Illinois Salukis to a 7-1 win Sunday over the Drake Bulldogs inside Charlotte West Stadium.
With the win, Southern improves to 20-3 on the season and it marks SIU's first series win over Drake since 2017.
"We talked about it this morning- the Valley season is a grind," head coach Kerri Blaylock said. "We probably let one slip away yesterday, but you can't get hung up on that. You have to come out and be ready to go for the next game. I'm really proud of our kids for coming out ready to go. It started with pitching and defense and it fed right over to our hitters."
Harness faced just three above the minimum through the first four innings of play and didn't allow a runner past second until the sixth. With a seven-run cushion in the top of the sixth, Emily Valtman hit a solo home run off Harness that broke up the shutout but the Bowling Green, Mo. native sat down the next five batters that she faced in order to improve to 10-1 on the season.
"I was a lot more confident today," Harness said of her performance in the circle. "I felt a lot looser and more relaxed. We had a good game plan after we saw them twice yesterday. My rise ball wasn't my best pitch yesterday so we worked on that a little bit this morning and my low rise was effective today."
After both teams hung zeros through the first two innings of play, Southern broke out for a five-spot in the bottom of the third. Maddy Vermejan led off the frame with a walk and Jenny Jansen brought her into score with a RBI-single. Katelyn Massa followed with a single to move Jansen to third and Elizabeth Warwick walked to load the bases. Elisabeth Huckleberry followed with a bloop single that scored Jansen and SIU later cleared the bases on a two-out throwing error by Drake's Nicole Timmons.
The Salukis added to their lead in the fourth. Jansen drew a two-out walk and Massa reached on an error before Warwick scored both with a triple off the wall in left center.
The top-6 hitters in SIU's lineup Sunday all got a hit in the win. Warwick went 1-of-3 with a triple, a walk and 2 RBIs to extend her reached base streak to 14 games.
Southern's 20-3 record is tied with the 1991 team for the program's best record through 23 games of a season.
"I told our kids some statistics as far as our last two NCAA Tournament teams and their records around this point of the season," Blaylock said. "Both the 2017 and 2019 teams started 13-9. We started 19-3. Sometimes you think it is going to be easy and it is not. You have to learn as much from losing as you do winning."
The Salukis will continue their nine-game homestead on Wednesday when they host the Missouri State Bears for a MVC doubleheader. First pitch of game one is set for 12 p.m.
Team Stats
Pitching:
W: Harness, Sarah (10-1)
L: Richards,Emma (1-5)
Batting:
HR: Valtman,Emily 1
RBI: Valtman,Emily 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Valtman,Emily 1
CS: Ryan,Libby 1
HBP: Valtman,Emily 1
Batting:
3B: Warwick, Elizabeth 1
RBI: Jansen, Jenny 1 ; Warwick, Elizabeth 2 ; Huckleberry, Elisabeth 1
SH: Boelens, Maris 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Vermejan, Maddy 1 ; Jansen, Jenny 2 ; Massa, Katelyn 2 ; Warwick, Elizabeth 1 ; Huckleberry, Elisabeth 1
