Southern Illinois University
College of Charleston
2022 Saluki Softball Season Preview
02/10/2022 | 11:31:00 | Softball
CARBONDALE, Ill. — The Southern Illinois University softball team officially begins its Missouri Valley Conference title defense when it kicks off the 2022 season with four games at the Troy Classic in Troy, Ala. The Salukis will open the 2022 campaign on Friday, Feb. 11 at 11 a.m. against the College of Charleston, before tangling with the Trojans at 5 p.m. The following day, Southern takes on Purdue Fort Wayne at 10:30 a.m. before closing out the weekend against Troy at 1:30 p.m.
Two of Southern's games this weekend will be against the host Trojans, who went 37-17 in 2021 and advanced to a NCAA Regional for the first time since 1996. Troy was one of a record four teams from the Sun Belt Conference to advance to a NCAA Regional a year ago and the Trojans return a solid core from that squad, led by the Sun Belt's Preseason Pitcher of the Year Leanna Johnson. Johnson went 21-8 in the circle in 2021 with a 1.66 ERA over 181.0 innings. Troy also returns a pair of Preseason All-Sun Belt selections in Jade Sinness and Kelly Horne.
"Troy has really good pitching, they have a couple of kids at the top of their lineup that are preseason All-Sun Belt and they are going to be well coached," head coach Kerri Blaylock said of the Trojans. "They play in a really tough conference and are battle tested. Leanna Johnson might be one of the top three or four pitchers we will face all season long. So we will get after them early in the season and see where we are at."
The Salukis will also take on a pair of teams this weekend with new coaching staffs and a whole lot of new faces in the College of Charleston and Purdue Fort Wayne.
"College of Charleston and Purdue Fort Wayne both have new coaching staffs and have both brought in a host of new players, so we don't really know much about who we will face," Blaylock said. "This weekend will be a good test for us."
The Salukis last took the field in Tempe, Arizona during the 2021 NCAA Tournament. The trip was a culmination of a terrific 2021 campaign that saw the Salukis win their most games in a season since 2010, win a conference tournament title for the third in program history and make the program's 13th all-time NCAA Tournament appearance. Southern also finished No. 48 in the final RPI rankings and posted the second-best team grade point average nationally with a 3.806 GPA.
Gone from this year's squad is a pair of familiar faces in Katelyn Massa and Maddy Vermejan. And while Vermejan will coach first base for the Salukis and Massa is currently a graduate assistant for Valparaiso's softball team, their graduation served as a changing of the guard in term's of SIU's leadership. A trio of experienced veterans in Jenny Jansen, Sidney Sikes and Ashley Wood have answered the call and will serve as captains for a 2022 Saluki squad that features eight upperclassmen and 12 underclassmen, including seven sophomores, of which five played extensively last season.
"Not having Maddy and Katelyn from a leadership perspective has been interesting," Blaylock said. "We named Jenny Jansen, Sidney Sikes and Ashley Wood as our captains and they've been doing a great job. We are continually pushing our sophomores to mature a little bit quicker because we need them to. Our sophomore class is going to be big for us this year because they are going to get a lot of playing time."
With Vermejan and Massa's graduation, Southern's infield will look different for the first time in years. Elisabeth Huckleberry, who committed just one error in 48 games at first baseman last season despite being recruited as a second baseman, will shift back over to her high school position in 2022. Jansen, who played 37 games at shortstop last season despite not having played the position since high school, will also play some second this season. Sikes, meanwhile, will take over catching duties for Massa and will be backed up by Kerrigan Gamm and Danyelle Eilers. Freshman Addi Baker should see considerable time, especially early in the season, at first base while fellow newcomer Emma Anthony has also been working in at the position. Ashley Wood, who's season ended a year ago due to an injury she suffered at Mississippi State, will anchor Southern's infield from her shortstop position while a combination of Rylie Hamilton, Sikes, Jansen, and Reagan McGahey will occupy the hot corner.
"Sidney Sikes is going to take over the catching duties and Kerrigan Gamm will help her with that. Elisabeth Huckleberry was recruited as a second baseman, so she will return to that position when Addi Baker plays first base. We've also got Jenny Jansen who can play second. She can also play third, shortstop, in the outfield and can pitch. We are going to play who we think is hitting and playing well at the time and we will do some things with our infield as far as adjusting to matchups and such."
With quite a few new faces in an infield that has finished top-25 nationally in fielding percentage in four of the last five seasons, Southern's approach won't change. The Salukis will continue to do what they've done so effectively for so many years under Blaylock- be in the right spot, know where to go with the ball and emphasize having the memory of a goldfish should any mistakes happen.
"We've got to go out there and get some game experience," Blaylock said. "We've got to get our younger kids to mature a bit. When we make mistakes, we cant get our heads down, we've got to learn from them and move on. What has always made us good defensively is not the actual task of fielding and throwing the ball- its knowing where we should be, where the ball should go and where the play is going to be. That's what has made us so good. So I'm hoping that we are getting better at that daily."
Southern's outfield is the deepest in terms of talent that it has had in years. Preseason All-MVC honoree Jansen, who enters the final year of her career with SIU's all-time RBI and hits records in sight, anchors a unit that can cover some ground. Bailey Caylor, Elizabeth Warwick and Aubree DePron finished 1-2-3 on last year's team in stolen bases while freshman Emma Austin adds another speedster to the mix. Tori Schullian, who played in 33 games a year ago, and Chloe Scroggins will also get playing time in the outfield.
"There are six or seven players who can play at any time," Blaylock said of her outfield. "Jansen, Warwick, Caylor, DePron, Austin, Schullian and Scroggins. Warwick, Caylor, DePron and Austin can all fly. We are very deep in the outfield. This club is as deep as we've ever been."
In the circle, Southern returns 80-percent of its innings pitched from a year ago, led by All-Region selection Sarah Harness. Harness has tied or led the MVC in wins in each of her first two seasons and was especially brilliant in the circle during Southern's MVC Tournament title run, as she went 3-0 and allowed just one earned run in 21 innings of work. Madi Eberle, meanwhile, led all Valley freshmen in wins (10) and strikeouts (86). The Salukis could also lean on freshman Alexis Rudd as well as Jansen for innings in the circle when needed.
"Sarah and Madi both look good through the offseason," Blaylock said. "They both have developed new wrinkles, which they need to do every year. Sarah is coming off an injury this fall but is looking really good and her confidence is coming back. She's doing great. Madi got to pitch a lot of innings this fall and has worked really hard with (volunteer assistant coach) Kenzi Bennett to spin the ball as much as she is throwing it hard. So she's becoming a more complete pitcher. They both are so competitive. We've also got Alexis Rudd and Jenny Jansen for situations where we need someone to pitch a few innings."
Southern, which will face a total of 11 teams this season that finished 2021 with top-100 RPIs including Troy (No. 51), hopes that the early season tests against quality opponents will set them up better for tense conference games down the stretch.
"If we can play some tough games early in the season, it will set us up better for conference play," Blaylock said. "We played Murray State in the fall and it was a 3-2, extra-inning game and we talked as a team afterwards about how the game had a spring feel to it. And that's what we want. We want games that give us that championship-feel in the preseason so that when we get into the conference schedule and eventually the conference tournament that those games feel as normal as possible."
Additional Notes
Scouting the opposition
Troy
- Troy went 37-17 in 2021 to earn its first-ever at-large berth to the NCAA Tournament and make the program's first appearance at a NCAA Regional since 1996.
- The Trojans were recently picked to finish third in the Sun Belt's annual preseason poll.
- Leanna Johnson was named the Sun Belt Preseason Pitcher of the Year while Kelly Horne and Jade Sinness earned spots on the Preseason All-Sun Belt Team.
- Johnson led the Sun Belt in ERA (1.66), strikeouts (260), shutouts (7) and opposing batting average (.166) in 2021.
- Troy finished the 2021 season ranked fourth nationally in doubles (98) and eighth in doubles per game (1.81).
- Four of Troy's top-six hitters a year ago were left-handed.
All-time vs. Troy
- The Trojans lead the all-time series, 2-1.
- This will mark the first time the two teams have faced since 2014 when Troy defeated SIU, 5-0 at the North Florida Invitational.
- Southern's lone win in the series came on March 11, 2005- a 2-0 win over the Trojans in 10 innings. Amy Harre allowed just three hits in 10 innings of work to seal the victory.
Purdue Fort Wayne
• First-year head coach Amber Bowman enters her first season as the head coach at Purdue Fort Wayne.
- Bowman takes over a team that went 12-27 a year ago.
- The Mastadons welcome in a host of new faces, which includes six transfers.
- Purdue Fort Wayne hit .240 as a squad and posted a 5.08 Team ERA.
All-time vs. IPFW
- SIU leads the all-time series, 2-0.
- Both of Southern's wins over IPFW came during the COVID-shortened 2020 campaign. The Salukis run-ruled the Mastadons, 9-0 in six innings on Feb. 28, 2019 and followed with a 8-0 run-rule win in five innings on March 1, 2019.
College of Charleston
- The Cougars are coming off a 6-35 season in 2021.
- Tracey Lynch takes over as the program's sixth head coach.
- Lynch's first recruiting class produced nine players, including seven who ranked in the Top-140 by Extra Inning Softball.
- The Cougars hit .215 a year ago and posted a 6.06 Team ERA.
All-time vs. Charleston
- SIU is 1-0 all-time vs. Charleston.
- The Salukis run-ruled the Cougars, 9-0 in five innings behind a two-hitter from Amy Harre on March 5, 2004.
