Southern Illinois University
37-16
Brigham Young University
37-16
Saluki softball’s season ends at Tempe Regional
05/22/2021 | 12:01:00 | Softball
TEMPE, Ariz. — The Southern Illinois University softball team fell to the Brigham Young University (BYU) Cougars, 7-2 in an elimination game Friday at the 2021 NCAA Tournament.
The curtain comes down on a remarkable 2021 season for the Salukis in which they tallied the program's most wins in a single-season since 2010 (37), won a conference tournament title for the third time in program history and made Southern's 13th all-time NCAA Tournament appearance. Southern also set program records for best start to a season (16-0) and longest win streak (25 games). SIU did so without its starting shortstop, 2019 MVC Freshman of the Year Ashley Wood, who was lost to a season-ending knee injury during the 16th game of the season.
"It was an incredible season," head coach Kerri Blaylock said. "We started off 16-0 and then lost Ashley. We fought our way through conference play and then to win the MVC tournament last weekend was magical. Last night was an indicator of where we could be and we are young, so hopefully we can take that and roll with it."
The Cougars scored the game's first run in the bottom of the first, then added a three-spot in the fourth. Southern plated a run in the fifth to draw within three and again got to within three with another run in the sixth, but the Cougars pushed across a pair in the bottom of the half of the frame to seal the win and move on to face Arizona State in the nightcap.
The West Coast Conference Player of the Year Violet Zavodnik hit an RBI-double in the first and added a solo home run in the fourth to put SIU in a 2-0 hole. BYU's next two batters reached and SIU starting pitcher Sarah Harness, who battled sickness for much of SIU's trip to the Tempe Regional, was chased after three innings. Carlee Jo Clark came on in relief, but the Cougars doubled their lead with back-to-back base knocks before Southern turned the ball over to Madi Eberle. Eberle got the Salukis out of the fourth inning without further damage.
"Sarah gave us everything she had," Blaylock said. "She's still not feeling well. She wanted to get out to the mound to help her team but BYU is a really good offensive team and they jumped on us. I thought we seemed flat early but we showed fight late. We had trouble keeping them down offensively. Overall, not one of our best performances, but we showed a lot of heart and a lot of fight."
Rylie Hamilton socked a pinch hit single in the fifth, advanced to second on a wild pitch and came around to score on a two-out single by Maddy Vermejan to get SIU on the board. But BYU's potent offense, which came into the NCAA Tournament ranked in the top-20 nationally in both home runs per game (9th) and slugging percentage (17th), used a single and a double to get the run back in the bottom half of the frame.
"They started to string some hits together and the top to middle of their lineup hits the ball so well," Blaylock said. "They're tough. We felt like if we kept it close and were within striking distance that we could've made them uncomfortable but we ran out of gas."
In the sixth, Maris Boelens and Jenny Jansen led off with back-to-back singles and Katelyn Massa brought a run in to score with a RBI-groundout. Jansen, however, was left stranded at second and was one of seven Saluki runners left on base during the contest. The Cougars used a pair of hits and a walk to push across the game's final two runs in the bottom of the sixth.
The loss not only brings an end to a phenomenal season, but marks the end of the storied careers of Katelyn Massa and Maddy Vermejan. The two fifth-year seniors, who came back for their COVID-season in hopes of bookending their Saluki careers with MVC Tournament titles, accomplished just that. The duo leaves SIU ranked in the top-15 of more than their fair share of statistical categories and have both earned a litany of postseason awards during their illustrious careers. In addition to Massa and Vermejan, Southern will also say goodbye to seniors Meredith Wernig and Maris Boelens, as well as student assistant coach Holly Marousek.
"They are irreplaceable," Blaylock said of SIU's 2021 seniors. "You don't ever replace players like that, you just hope to find players that can kind of do what they did. We'll never replace this senior class and what they have meant to us."
Team Stats
Pitching:
W: MOFFAT-KORTH, Autumn (22-9)
L: Harness, Sarah (22-6)
Batting:
RBI: Vermejan, Maddy 1 ; Massa, Katelyn 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Boelens, Maris 1 ; Hamilton, Rylie 1
HBP: Vermejan, Maddy 1
PO: Vermejan, Maddy 1
Batting:
2B: ZAVODNIK, Violet 1 ; EPENESA, Martha 2
3B: PETERSON, HannahJo 1
HR: ZAVODNIK, Violet 1
RBI: PETERSON, HannahJo 2 ; ZAVODNIK, Violet 2 ; EPENESA, Martha 1 ; CHAVEZ, Marissa 1 ; PODHURCAK, Alyssa 1
SH: ERICKSON, Kaylee 2
Base Running:
RUNS: JENSEN, Rylee 1 ; PETERSON, HannahJo 2 ; ZAVODNIK, Violet 1 ; WILLIAMS, Taylei 1 ; EPENESA, Martha 1 ; LENNON, Taryn 1
PO: PODHURCAK, Alyssa 1
