Southern Illinois University
21-5, 3-3
Bradley University
9-8, 2-2
Salukis take two from Braves
03/27/2021 | 7:19:00 | Softball
Southern clinched its eighth-straight series win over Bradley with Saturday’s doubleheader sweep.
CARBONDALE, Ill. — The Southern Illinois University softball team took two from the Bradley Braves Saturday in Missouri Valley Conference play at Charlotte West Stadium. Southern won the opener, 6-1 and followed with a 4-1 victory in the nightcap. It marked the eighth-straight series win for the Salukis over the Braves in a streak that dates back to 2012.
Southern's defense and pitching were once again exceptional in SIU's two wins Saturday. Sarah Harness, Carlee Jo Clark and Madi Eberle combined to allow just two runs on 11 hits in 14 innings. Eberle won game one in the circle after she threw four innings and allowed just one run on three hits with four strikeouts. Harness picked up her second save of the season after she threw three perfect innings to seal the victory.
In game two, Clark got the start and lasted three and a third innings and allowed just one run on five hits. Harness came on in relief of Clark and threw three and two-third scoreless innings and allowed just three hits. Harness improved to 11-2 in the circle on the season.
SIU's defense, which came into Saturday's contests ranked No. 8 nationally in fielding percentage, had several eye-popping plays, most notably in the sixth inning of game one when Sidney Sikes stretched over the bullpen fence along the third base line and turned a would-be foul ball into an out.
"The only thing I'm disappointed in is that we could have been a little bit better offensively in game two," head coach Kerri Blaylock said. "Jen told them to pay attention to the details because we wanted to give our pitching staff a little bit of leeway where they don't feel like they have to be perfect all of the time. Other than that, good defense, good pitching and timely hitting. Maris really broke the game open in game one which let us settle down. We just need to continue to be good offensively."
Southern shook up its lineup after Wednesday's losses to Missouri State. Most notably, Maris Boelens hit in the three-hole for the first time this season, Katelyn Massa bumped down to seventh and Aubree DePron hit ninth.
"I told Jen (Sewell) last night I wanted to put our top average hitters at the top of our lineup, which allowed for Aubree to be a spark plug in the nine hole," Blaylock said. "We just decided to do it that way and it worked out really well."
Maris Boelens was the catalyst at the plate for the Salukis, as she tallied a team-best four hits and was 4-for-7 with a double and 3 RBIs. She recorded multiple hits and drove in at least one run in each of SIU's wins. Eight different Salukis recorded a hit Saturday, which included four with multiple hits.
"I went into today just wanting to focus on my confidence and wanted to just string together hits since we've been kind of struggling offensively this past week," Boelens said. "It wasn't so much about getting the big hits of the game but more so just wanted to string together good at-bats with a good approach at the plate and that's what I did today."
The Salukis won game one Saturday after they scratched across two runs in the third, three in the fifth and a solo run in the sixth.
In the second game of the day, Southern manufactured a run in the bottom of the first thanks to a bases loaded walk and hung a three-spot in the third, highlighted by a two-run blast by Katelyn Massa that gave Harness all the run support she needed.
In game one, both teams put up zeros through the first two innings. Eberle faced just two above the minimum through three innings. After she got out of the third unscathed, SIU's offense broke through in the bottom of the frame. Maris Boelens singled in Aubree DePron for the game's first run and the Salukis plated their second run of the inning on a fielding error by the Braves.
Bradley cut SIU's lead in half in the fourth thanks to a solo home run off the bat of Avery Blume. A lead off single by the Braves in the top of the fifth brought Eberle's day in the circle to an end, as Blaylock turned the ball over to Harness, who faced the minimum to lock down the save.
In the nightcap, Southern sent seven to the plate in the bottom of the first and used two walks, a hit and an error to score the game's first run. Bradley used three-straight singles to load the bases with no outs in the top of the second but Clark limited the damage and allowed just one run to score before getting out of the jam.
The Salukis broke the 1-all tie in the bottom of the third after they hung the game's only crooked number. Bailey Caylor led off the inning with a single and Tori Schullian brought her home with a single of her own. Massa followed with her third home run of the year to extend SIU's lead to 4-1.
The Salukis and the Braves will close out their three-game series tomorrow at 12 p.m. Please note that Sunday's finale was originally scheduled for 11 a.m. but the start time was pushed back an hour in hopes of allowing Saturday night's forecasted rain to dry out.
Team Stats
Pitching:
W: Eberle, Madi (7-3)
L: French, Grace (4-3)
S: Harness, Sarah (2)
Batting:
HR: Blume, Avry 1
RBI: Blume, Avry 1
SH: van Breusegen,Keeler 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Blume, Avry 1
Batting:
2B: Sikes, Sidney 1
RBI: Vermejan, Maddy 1 ; Boelens, Maris 3 ; DePron, Aubree 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Vermejan, Maddy 1 ; Caylor, Bailey 2 ; Eilers, Danyelle 1 ; Wernig, Meredith 1 ; DePron, Aubree 1
SB: Caylor, Bailey 1 ; Huckleberry, Elisabeth 1
